By the evening edition.
NASA is facing a major challenge. In 2026, if all goes well, humans will set foot on the Moon again. A very practical question then arises for the space agency: how to recycle astronauts’ excrement to prevent it from remaining on the lunar soil like the 96 bags already present on our satellite.
Between the first Apollo mission in 1969 and the last in December 1972, the astronauts who walked on the Moon left 96 bags containing feces, vomit and urine. Fifty years after the last lunar mission, humans are preparing to return to the Moon. Will they leave their excrement on the lunar soil like their predecessors? It is a question that makes you smile but which is taken very seriously by the American space agency.
“The competent authorities have still not found solutions to recycle astronauts’ excrement”notes the American magazine Wired. Since the 1970s, however, space flight conditions have changed considerably. The International Space Station, for example, is now equipped with toilets that suck up urine and feces.
Urine transformed into drinking water
The first is “mixed with other wastewater produced in the ISS (humidity, water samples, etc.) then it is purified to make drinking water”, explains the Canadian government website. As for the second, the elimination system involves combustion. The Canadian government adds: “Solid waste is collected in a tank. When full, the tank is placed in an unmanned resupply vehicle. When this vehicle is full, it is released into the upper atmosphere, where it burns up as it falls towards the Earth. »
Is such a system possible for the Artemis 3 mission which plans to send humans to the Moon in 2026? Not really. “Although space toilets already exist and are in use (the International Space Station), they are designed for microgravity only”, writes NASA. For Artemis 3, NASA is therefore looking for “a new generation device that is smaller, more efficient and capable of operating in both microgravity and lunar gravity”we can still read on his site.
Excrement, a threat to the Moon?
As pointed out Geo, the stakes are high. NASA’s goal is to minimize any potential impact of human waste on the lunar surface. The magazine cites a study published in Protection of cultural heritage sites on the MoonApril 4, 2020 by Hugo Lopez, researcher at CNRS: “Fecal microbes could pose a real threat to the lunar environment and to scientific activities carried out on Earth’s natural satellite. »
” Excrementremind our colleagues from Monde, are composed of water, fat and organic matter. These are simply living matter, such as bacteria. While some of these microorganisms are able to survive on Earth in the ocean floor, in glaciers and in volcanoes, it is less certain that they will survive the very hostile environment of the Moon.
