The other day, Web Watch had the privilege of having dinner with a former NASA engineer, and as is often the case with this gentleman, the inevitable topic of using the bathroom in the confines of the Space Shuttle or the International Space Station came up.
Not by us, of course. He was the one to first broach the subject, which we found a little odd, especially over dinner.
How Do You Go To The Bathroom In Space
But since he was the one to initially bring up the topic, we were compelled to share with him that we were well familiar with the question about HOW DO YOU GO TO THE BATHROOM IN SPACE? having seen the video on Web Watch.
But we couldn’t leave well enough alone, as we also had to point out that we felt it was completely logical for ASTRONAUTS TO USE THEIR PEE to propel themselves around space.
Of course, we were referring to how an astronaut could pee in one direction and use that urine stream as propulsion. Surprisingly, our dining companion did not laugh at our theory, but instead said that there was another exciting possibility on the horizon.
He was referring to, of course, a different way to UTILIZE SPACE URINE and repurpose it to not be used as an individual method of moving around a space cabin, but rather to convert the inherent energy stored in human waste into a PLASMA THRUSTER; the long term goal of such a device would be to send a manned flight to Mars.
Yes, government dollars are being used to fund this type of urine research, to the tune of a little more than $3 million AUS. But in the end, that could just be a drop in the bucket if this study can lower overall space travel costs and make deep space exploration that much closer to reality.