The iconic costumes from Dune have inspired the creation of a new prototype spacesuit that can turn urine into drinking water. This will help astronauts to stop using diapers during long spacewalks.
In the Dune universe, special suits absorb moisture from sweating and urination, filtering it for reuse. Researchers from Cornell University believe that such a system would be very useful for astronauts, who are currently forced to use uncomfortable diapers that can leak, smell bad, and even cause infections.
Sophia Etlin, a researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine, said that after reading Dune, she was struck by the idea of a spacesuit. This inspired her to create a startup, Fremen Space, Inc. at Cornell, which realized this idea. The design includes a vacuum external catheter and a reverse osmosis unit that provides a constant supply of drinking water with numerous safety mechanisms for astronauts.
Astronauts in modern spacesuits can also drink water, but its volume does not exceed a liter, which is not enough for long spacewalks. The new spacesuit will have underwear made of flexible fabric with a silicone bowl for collecting urine. A vacuum pump is activated by moisture and pumps urine to a filtration system that removes all harmful impurities and salts. The filtered water is enriched with electrolytes and fed into the drinking system.
Unlike the Dune spacesuits, the astronauts will use a 20.5 volt battery to power the system, which weighs about 8 kg and can purify half a liter of water in five minutes. The first prototype filters only urine, but future versions may include sweat filtration.
The team of engineers plans to recruit 100 volunteers in New York City this fall to test the convenience and functionality of the first prototype.
Earlier, we talked about the five main stars in the Dune universe.
Based on materials from techspot.com
