back to article New ISS piss-recycler still troublesome

Technical snags continue to bedevil one of the key new technologies being installed aboard the International Space Station (ISS): one critical to plans for larger crews. We speak, of course, of the troubled urine-recycler space drinks machine - intended to turn golden astronaut juice into cool, lipsmacking refreshments. …

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  1. It wasnt me

    Just leave it as it is....

    ......and tell the astronauts its a gatorade machine.

  2. John Smith Gold badge
    Joke

    Simplest answer.

    Buy Russian. IIRC they were developing this with the ultimate goal of going to Mars.

    Or in the words of that famous NASA exhortation

    "Suck it up."

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Michael Fincke's stiff upper lip...

    Michael Fincke ALWAYS has a stiff upper lip - just try and find a photo of him without that ludicrous grin plastered across his face. I am starting to find him almost as annoying as Ruth on The Archers (albeit for entirely different reasons).

    Paris - because she keeps her lips nice and supple. And doesn't adopt a ludicrously crap Geordie accent on Radio 4. Hell, she probably even drinks piss if you ask her nicely enough.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Hmmmm

    Knowing the yanks would i not be quicker to start the ISS on its journey to Mars to dig up some ice and get melting it???

  5. Lionel Baden
    Alert

    broke

    or sabotaged !!!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey, I'll have a Babycham.

    Marginally better than human residuals.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Aliens get thirsty too

    Flow rates were still reportedly poor. Have they checked the outside of the ISS for attached aliens who have diverted the flow?

  8. SinisterDexter

    Simple answer - continued...

    Yeah the Russians had a simple, reliable working system years before the Yanks. However IIRC American pride prevented them from 'sucking it up' and using Russian piss-tech for the ISS as they wanted a higher tech all-American recycle system. A case of needlessly reinventing the wheel, and badly...

  9. Nexox Enigma

    I bet...

    I bet that if/when it starts working it'll produce a beverage that's not exactly, but almost entirely unlike tea.

  10. Jim
    Paris Hilton

    This begs the question...

    ...why the ISS was constructed in the first place. The Russians as I recall were quite opposed to it at the time because they felt they had already accomplished what any low orbit space station could do with MIR and indeed MIR could have been sustained past its mandated EOL had NASA not been so intent on this project. Now that NASA has sunk so much money into this low orbital version of AIG they now feel required to somehow justify its continuing existence. So I guess it's like that line from The Right Stuff, instead of exploring Mars we're exploring the planet Urine. One can only wonder when they will progress to Uranus. Maybe then they can make their own fertilizer in space. Of course in the eyes of many people they have already reached that objective.

    Paris because she's smarter than most of the SES managers at NASA.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wrong qualifications

    "......who holds a PhD in engineering, installed the new kit "

    Who would trust someone with a PhD in engineering to install a new toaster on earth?

    I'm not suggesting they get a Polish plumber in but it's not rocket science is it?

  12. Chris Fleming
    Coat

    ounces in a liter?

    My guess (unedumicated) tis a problem with gravity or in this case lack of. Apparently worked really well on Terra. Did they not have the same problem with HDD's up there in the first days?

    Oh well back to the underater drawing board.

    Prefer my piss to be brown/amber and fizzy. .

    Time for the Pub.

  13. Andus McCoatover
    Boffin

    Solution!

    <<it seems that recycling equipment designed to harvest and reprocess astronauts' emitted body moisture from the station atmosphere is working fine>>

    Therefore, why don't they just piss AT it, rather than INTO it? D'ohhhhh.

    Rocket Science Icon needed. Wait - I just found one.

  14. Will Parker
    Alert

    Why don't astronauts drink their own piss?

    Isn't urine-drinking a daily ritual for, like, 20 million people across the globe? I happen to know of a friend who doesn't spill a drop... he's also into wine-nasal-imbibing, but I won't get into that here.

    Why not get the astronauts to routinely drink whatever comes out of their astro-willy/pussy? Its entirely safe - as long as it isn't your only source of water as the urea concentrations start to get too high and your kidneys would pack in. But normal urine is fine - perhaps a little salty, but certainly not life-threatening. In fact, it even has antiseptic qualities. According to those in the know, its also a very good way of regulating your water intake. If you're urine is too salty - you know you need to take on more of that fresh, lovely H20.

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