Dune-Inspired Spacesuits Let Astronauts Drink Recycled Urine

The hit movie, Duneinspired a new full-body spacesuit capable of recycling its wearer’s urine, allowing them to walk further in any future exploration.

While it’s true that in space, no one can hear you pee, astronauts who go out into space have few options when it comes to answering nature’s call. Defecating inside your spacesuit is not only uncomfortable and unhygienic, but it’s also wasteful. The wastewater on the International Space Station (ISS) can be recycled, but the urine produced during a spacewalk cannot.

But perhaps science fiction holds the answer to this problem, at least that’s what researchers at Cornell University believe.

In the popular Dune In a series of books and films, individuals living in the open deserts of the planet Arrakis wear “distilleries” designed to absorb and purify their sweat and urine. By filtering out the impurities, the wearer is able to stay hydrated in this harsh, arid environment. For decades, this idea has remained a feature of popular fiction – but it may soon become a reality as a new prototype urine-collecting filtration system has been designed for spacesuits.

“The design includes an external vacuum catheter leading to a combined forward and reverse osmosis unit, providing a continuous supply of potable water with multiple safety mechanisms to ensure the well-being of astronauts,” Sofia Etlin, a research staff member at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University, and first author of the study, explained in a statement.

Two images side by side. The first is a side view of a digital human wearing the filtration system. It is shaped like a rectangular box and you can see tubes and cylinders inside. There is also a tube connecting the inside to a compressed sphere-shaped object on top of the box. The second image is a pair of new absorbent underwear. The material appears to be shiny. The top and sides of the legs are made of a cream-colored material while the groin area is made of a dark nylon-looking fabric.

For decades, astronauts on long spacewalks have had to empty their bladders into what are effectively space diapers, but the new system allows them to recycle and reuse the water they expel.

Photo credit: Karen Morales (left) and Claire Walter (right)

Timing is also important. In 2025 and 2026, NASA is planning the Artemis II and III missions that will orbit the Moon and then land a crew near the South Pole. More crewed missions to Mars are expected by the early 2030s. However, based on current options, these astronauts will find themselves in a less attractive situation when they do spacewalk.

Astronauts have long complained about the lack of comfort and hygiene of existing toilets. The maximum absorbency garment (MAG) they currently use, developed in the late 1970s, is actually a multi-layer diaper made of super-absorbent polymers.

“The MAG is believed to have leaked and caused health problems such as urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal disorders. In addition, astronauts currently only have one liter of water available in their water bags integrated into their suits. This is insufficient for the planned and longer lunar spacewalks, which can last ten hours or even up to 24 hours in an emergency,” Etlin added.

The astronauts also requested that the time it took to fill and degas the beverage bags inside the suit be reduced, and that a separate supply of caffeine-free energy drinks be added as well. These objections and requests led Etlin and his colleagues to design a urine collection device that includes a multi-layered undergarment made of soft fabric.

The latter is connected to a molded silicone collection cup, which can be used for different genitals. The inside of the cup is lined with polyester microfibers or a nylon-elastane blend that draws urine away from the body and into the cup. The waste is then sucked out by a vacuum pump, activated by an RFID tag that reacts to moisture.

Once the urine is collected, it is sent to a urine filtration system that recycles it. This system has an efficiency of 87% and works thanks to a built-in filtration system and two-stage reverse osmosis. It uses a concentration gradient that removes water from waste and a pump that separates this water from salt. The now purified water is then enriched with electrolytes and pumped to a drinking bag in the suit.

Remarkably, the suit can collect and purify 500 ml of urine in just five minutes.

The backpack system is lightweight and compact, weighing about 8 kilograms. The system also features built-in control pumps, sensors and an LCD display screen.

Now that the prototype has been created, the design can be tested under various simulated conditions.

“Our system can be tested in simulated microgravity conditions, as microgravity is the main space factor we need to consider. These tests will ensure the functionality and safety of the system before its deployment in real space missions,” concluded Dr. Christopher E Mason, a professor at the same institute as Etlin and lead author of the study.

The article is published in the journal Frontiers in Space Technologies.