1. Periode 2: “Watergebruik op weg naar Mars” Intro: Indien astronauten een reis naar Mars gaan maken is er natuurlijk ook water nodig voor o.a. drinken, voedsel bereiden, persoonlijke hygiëne. Maar hoeveel water gebruiken ze nu op zo’n reis, waar komt al dat water vandaan? Natuurlijk zullen de astronauten op een geheel andere wijze met hun watergebruik moeten omgaan dan wij hier op aarde. Een grote hoeveelheid water meenemen voor zo’n lange reis is onmogelijk. Wat wil je onderzoeken? Bepaal hoeveel water een mens normaal op een jaar gebruikt Bedenk een aantal rigoureuze bezuinigingsmaatregelen op dit watergebruik Bedenk een aantal methoden om in de ruimte water te recyclen Wat ga je doen? Kies een methode uit 1. en werk deze uit tot een practicum Hoe ga je het doen? Wat heb je nodig? Wat zijn je resultaten? Wat is je conclusie? Huiswerk en vervolgonderzoek NASA Science News homeWater on the Space StationRationing and recycling will be an essential part of life on the International Space Station. In this article, Science@NASA explores where the crew will get their water and how they will (re)use it. -989330-2291080Listen to this story (requires RealPlayer)right0November 2, 2000 -- Future astronauts poised to blast off for an extended stay on the International Space Station (ISS) might first consider dashing to the restroom for a quick splash at the lavatory, or better yet, a luxurious hot shower. Once on board the ISS, spacefarers are in for a steady diet of sponge baths using water distilled from -- among other places -- their crewmates breath!If you're squeamish, read no farther, because the crew will eventually include lab rodents -- and they'll be breathing, too. All of the denizens of the space station lose water when they exhale or sweat. Such vapors add to the ambient cabin humidity, which is eventually condensed and returned to the general water supply.Sometimes it's better not to think about where your next glass of water is coming from!Rationing and recycling will be an essential part of daily life on the ISS. In orbit, where Earth's natural life support system is missing, the Space Station itself has to provide abundant power, clean water, and breathable air at the right temperature and humidity -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, indefinitely. Nothing can go to waste.In this article, the first of a series about the practical challenges of living in space, Science@NASA will examine how the Space Station's Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), under continuing development at the Marshall Space Flight Center, will help astronauts use and re-use their precious supplies of water. Future installments will explore air management, thermal control and fire suppression -- in short, all of the things that will make the Space Station comfortable and safe.Making a Splash in SpaceBefore recycling can begin, there has to be some water to start with.right0
We have plenty of water on the Space Station now,
says Jim Reuter, leader of the ECLSS group at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
The Russian module Zarya is packed with contingency water containers (CWCs) that were carried over from the Space Shuttle during assembly missions earlier this year. They look like duffle bags and each one holds about 90 lbs.
But it's expensive to ferry water from Earth,
he added.
We have to recycle. There's already a Russian-built water processor in orbit that collects humidity from the air. Here at Marshall we're building a regenerative system that will be able to recycle almost every drop of water on the station and support a crew of seven with minimal resupplies.
Right: Shuttle pilot Terry Wilcutt with 7 contingency water containers destined for the space station Mir.The ECLSS Water Recycling System (WRS), developed at the MSFC, will reclaim waste waters from the Space Shuttle's fuel cells, from urine, from oral hygiene and hand washing, and by condensing humidity from the air. Without such careful recycling 40,000 pounds per year of water from Earth would be required to resupply a minimum of four crewmembers for the life of the station.Not even research animals are excused from the program.
Lab animals on the ISS breath and urinate, too, and we plan to reclaim their waste products along with the crew's. A full complement of 72 rats would equal about one human in terms of water reclamation,
says Layne Carter, a water-processing specialist at the MSFC.It might sound disgusting, but water leaving the space station's purification machines will be cleaner than what most of us drink on Earth.
The water that we generate is much cleaner than anything you'll ever get out of any tap in the United States,
says Carter.
We certainly do a much more aggressive treatment process (than municipal waste water treatment plants). We have practically ultra-pure water by the time our water's finished.
NASA Advances Water Recycling for Space Travel and Earth Use From Nick Greene,Your Guide to Space / Astronomy.FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now! Water Processor Assembly Developed by the Marshall Center Water is one of the most crucial provisions astronauts need to live and work in space, whether orbiting Earth, working at a lunar base or traveling to Mars. The Water Processor Assembly developed by the Marshall Center will improve water recycling on the International Space Station. Would Columbus have reached the New World if his ships could not carry enough water for their crews? Would Lewis and Clark have made it to the Pacific if they had no fresh water along the way? The answer is probably no, because water is just as precious to explorers as it is to everyone on Earth. Water is one of the most crucial provisions astronauts need to live and work in space, whether orbiting Earth, working at a lunar base or traveling to Mars. That's why NASA is following several different but complementary avenues at four agency centers to develop dependable ways of recycling water.
Developing innovative life support technologies will reduce risks associated with human space exploration,
said Eugene Trinh, director of the Human System Research and Technology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington.
We are working to improve technology used onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and have several research projects under way for future missions to the moon and Mars.
ISS crewmembers must save as much water as possible. Each is allocated about two liters daily. They stretch the ration by collecting, cleaning and reusing wastewater, condensate in the air and urine. A new technology to improve recycling on the ISS is being developed by engineers at Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International, Inc., Windsor Locks, Conn., and researchers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, Ala. The Water Processor Assembly (WPA) will be the first major hardware delivery of the Regenerative Environmental Control Life Support System. The WPA and the Urine Processor Assembly make up the Water Recovery System (WRS), which feeds the Oxygen Generation System. These combined systems will support up to a seven-member crew.
The Water Processing Assembly can daily produce 35 gallons of potable recycled water,
said Bob Bagdigian, MSFC Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System Project Manager. After the new systems are installed, annual delivered water to the ISS should decrease by approximately 15,960 pounds, about 1,600 gallons. The WPA is scheduled for delivery in 2008. Water purity is also important. Chemical and microbial contaminants make it unappetizing or unhealthy, and it can clog complicated fluid systems. The Aerobic Rotational Membrane System (ARMS) research project at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., may help.
We're trying to move toward a biological treatment method using bacteria to help cleanse the water,
said Tony Rector, Dynamac Corporation bioprocess engineer at KSC. The KSC prototype shop fabricated a model of the system. It is being tested inside KSC's Space Life Sciences Laboratory, and Rector and colleagues designed it. At NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC), Moffett Field, Calif., a water recycler enabling reuse for three years without resupply is being developed on a timeline to fit into exploration plans, according to ARC scientist Michael Flynn. A preliminary engineering development unit can hourly recycle 13.2 pounds, about one gallon, of waste into drinkable water.
If we were going to Mars tomorrow, this is the water treatment system astronauts might well use,
Flynn said. He is developing it in cooperation with Water Reuse Technology, Inc., Garden Valley, Calif.
This unit can enable a six- person crew to shower, wash clothes and dishes, drink water and flush toilets over three years without resupply,
Flynn said. Engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, are developing technology to help astronauts live in space. They are studying biological water processors to minimize their size in space habitats. JSC microbiologist Leticia Vega describes her work as making biological water processors modular, so they can be easily removed and cleaned. Researchers are also identifying soaps that rapidly degrade at high concentrations. Cleansers, like shampoo and soap, affect the size of systems, because of the time it takes for them to break down. Researchers are studying ways of optimizing size of ion exchange beds used for the final purification of water. Water recycling technologies developed by NASA will undergo combined water recovery systems testing at JSC to meet exploration timelines. Many of these recycling technologies may have Earth-based uses. NASA is working with the Expeditionary Unit Water Purification Program of the U.S. Office of Naval Research and Bureau of Reclamation to explore ways to use recycling in remote locations.