NASA Is Building $23-Million Space Toilet For Astronauts, Here's How It Looks!

According to Space.com, NASA astronauts working on the International Space Station is about to receive a brand new toilet with joy and excitement. 

This space toilet system is called as UWMS - short for Universal Waste Management System. It is developed to be a test for zero gravity toilets that will be used during distant space flight, like a trip to Mars. This high-tech piece has been under research for nearly six years while setting back over $23 million for development. 

Besides, it also aims at setting up a standard for cost-effective toilet experience in space and initiating the research on smaller fecal canisters that will lead to stowage effectiveness. 

According to a spokesperson from NASA, the new cloakroom is expected to arrive at the ISS this autumn on the condition that a spacecraft has been chosen for the delivery. 

The biggest goal of the new space toilet is predicted to avoid waste disposal of humans on other planets which can cause cross-contamination. Previously, the act of US astronauts from Apollo 11 did leave 96 bags of feces on the moon has raised a lot of arguments around. 

In fact, the longer distance of space travel, the more feces need proper managing. As estimated by NASA, a journey to Mars will leave an amount of excrement up to 600 pounds, which is extremely in need of a long-term solution. 

Then with the aim of both managing the metabolic waste and reusing the microbial inactive result, UWMS is created. In addition, its operation process is explained by the program manager for the Environment Control and Life Support Technology and Crew Health and Performance at NASA - Jim Bryant - in a meeting on May 20th. 

The current toilet on the ISS has been used from the 90s. It is regarded as something very outdated and difficult to use, especially for women. Moreover, it suffered from more and more hatred after the accident in February 2019 that had released tons of gallons of waste fluid. 

The upcoming space toilet has a very promising future with more up-gradation like an adjusted shape or new toe bars for hooking feet. Additionally, the same model will be available for NASA's Orion Spacecraft that will be launched to the Moon later in this decade. 

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