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Remember the $640 toilet seat ?

zipperzap
Well, this is what it goes to .........

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/jul/HQ_C07028_station_hardware.html

NASA Awards Contract for Space Station Hardware

HOUSTON - NASA has signed a $46 million fixed price basic contract (my highlights) with S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Public Corporation, also known as RSC Energia, in Korolev, Russia, for various hardware items and their integration into the International Space Station.

The basic contract includes $19 million to purchase a Russian-designed toilet system with a privacy enclosure (my highlights) and additional space station equipment. The additional equipment includes a spare depress air pump used to conserve air when the crew exits the Quest airlock for a spacewalk; technical and engineering support for the mechanism that allows shuttles to dock with the station; software updates for the station's inventory management system; and certification of additional computer hardware for use on the station.

The toilet system, similar to the one already in use in the station's Zvezda Service Module, is needed for the planned expansion from three to six crew members in 2009. The system will be able to automatically transfer urine to a U.S. device that can generate potable water.

The contract runs through December 2011 and includes funds to procure equipment necessary for routine maintenance.
[:D]
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Comments

7 comments

Date Votes
  • FEENIX
    Interesting!
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  • Old-Colts
    quote:Originally posted by zipperzap
    The system will be able to automatically transfer urine to a U.S. device that can generate potable water.[:D]
    Toilet to Tap![:0][:D] Weren't they talking about doing this in CA?[:D]
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  • ulooknatme2
    [xx(]
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  • zipperzap
    quote:Old-Colts:

    Toilet to Tap! Weren't they talking about doing this in CA?

    Yep - they wanted to start it in some 'pilot' programs up in the
    Los Angeles area - John Q. Public (Ramirez) hit the proverbial
    roof and it was canned.

    There are a lot of places in the SW that are using gray water for
    parks and some irrigation projects.

    The US Navy has used reverse osmosis (quietly) for decades -
    especially in the 'Silent Service.'
    [:D]
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  • KSUmarksman
    quote:Originally posted by Old-Colts
    quote:Originally posted by zipperzap
    The system will be able to automatically transfer urine to a U.S. device that can generate potable water.[:D]
    Toilet to Tap![:0][:D] Weren't they talking about doing this in CA?[:D]


    It's perfectly safe if the system works right.
    I mean, you wouldn't drink sea water either, but after going through a reverse-osmosis water purifier it is perfectly drinkable.

    Granted there are a couple more steps in the system, probably an anti-bacterial treatment (likely UV) but wastewater can be reclaimed to drinkable and even de-ionized water.
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  • p3skyking
    Actually, when the original $600. toilet seat story broke many years ago it was the toilet cover/seat assembly off the P-3C that they were talking about. It wasn't just a toilet seat though. It was an entire cover assembly incorporating a toilet seat. A 3' by 3.5' curved fiberglas assembly.
    Now you know the rest of the story.[8D]
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  • RUGERGUNZ
    When I worked on ships as the "turd" third running the sanitation systems. MSD's Marine Sanitation Devices. I was told that the "water" or finished product we dumped overboard was drinkable. I however never tried it!! [;)]
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