Bloomberg: US and Russia can not even agree on what to do with astronaut urine

“It's been a difficult year for the people who keep the International Space Station (ISS) running,” notes Justin Bachman in an article for Bloomberg Businessweek.

The author recalls the unsuccessful launches of three spacecraft with cargoes for the ISS (two US and one Russian) that occurred in June and October 2014 of the year, as well as in April 2015 of the year.

“Each of the cargoes lost in connection with unsuccessful American launches contained two multifunctional filter beds for water treatment equipment, as well as filters for a system that processes astronauts’ urine into drinking water.”

“It tastes like it came out of a bottle,” Lane Carter, a NASA employee in charge of the ISS water subsystem, said of the astronaut-derived water. “The main thing is to overcome the psychological barrier caused by the fact that this is processed urine and condensate obtained from the air.” (Condensate is the polite name for the collected vapors, which include the astronauts' exhaled steam and sweat, as well as wash water and the urine of animals living on the ISS, including a dozen mice that arrived on a Japanese cargo ship.)

In July, due to the loss of filter elements, Carter's team had to stop processing condensate into water and develop new special plans to maintain the water supply if something goes wrong. “Every day is an adventure with this water system,” says Carter, a 27-year NASA veteran,” the article states.

The author reports that there are two thousand liters of water on the ISS, equally divided between the American and Russian segments. Each crew has its own water supply system, as they use different reagents for disinfection. Americans use iodine, which has to be filtered out, since its excess causes an enlargement of the thyroid gland, while Russians use silver, which does not require additional filtration.

The American water treatment system produces slightly more drinking water than the Russian one, which uses only condensate and water collected after showers for this purpose. "Why is that? – Bachman asks and answers: “Because NASA also takes Russian urine.” “We put it in bags, and then the Russian crew brings it to the American side,” Carter says. – We do not purify 100% of Russian urine. How much depends on the amount of free time.”