The Space Poop Challenge

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: andy06shake

Yes, they skipped over how exactly it caught the waste products coming out of certain orifices.

It said that it powered production through walking action, so there would be impetus for astronauts to stay active. I imagine we might be looking at some sort of pizielectric membrane layer in there somewhere.

A stillsuit is a full body suit worn in the open desert of the planet Arrakis that was designed to preserve the body's moisture.
It consisted of various layers that would absorb the body's moisture through sweating and urination, and then filter the impurities so that drinkable water would be circulated to catchpockets.

The individual could then drink the reclaimed water from a tube attached to the neck. A stillsuit, kept in working order and maintained properly, permitted the wearer to survive for weeks in the open desert.

dune.wikia.com...

Contents[show] Design Edit
The stillsuit typically covered the entire body, up to the neck and wrists. For the hands, gloves could be worn. However, when delicate work was performed, Fremen discarded the gloves and rubbed their hands with leaves from the creosote bush.
This allowed them to work, while the residue from the creosote leaves prevented perspiration. A facial mask could also be worn so that moisture from the mouth and face could also be reclaimed.

As the planetologist Liet Kynes is assisting Duke Leto Atreides I with the fitting of his stillsuit, he explains the suit in this manner: "It's basically a micro-sandwich — a high-efficiency filter and heat-exchange system. The skin-contact layer's porous. Perspiration passes through it, having cooled the body ... near-normal evaporation process. The next two layers . . . include heat exchange filaments and salt precipitators. Salt's reclaimed. Motions of the body, especially breathing and some osmotic action provide the pumping force.

Reclaimed water circulates to catchpockets from which you draw it through this tube in the clip at your neck... Urine and feces are processed in the thigh pads.

In the open desert, you wear this filter across your face, this tube in the nostrils with these plugs to ensure a tight fit. Breathe in through the mouth filter, out through the nose tube. With a Fremen suit in good working order, you won't lose more than a thimbleful of moisture a day..."

I think there is more tech to this than we have at the moment, for one of these.

Funny, I remember my friends science teacher or professor said that man survived because he could hold his poop and do it where predators can't trace it back to their dwellings.

lol, still dealing with # after 1 million years.

Another link, you can read it.

scifi.stackexchange.com...

Perhaps the astronauts could work out a schedule, only eating so long before donning the spacesuit and ensuring that they 'go' at the last minute, too.

In case of failure I'd suggest highly efficient leak-proof plugs.

There's always the 'flexiseal', although I'd be shot if you'd install one on me if I were conscious:



You generally can only use these if your stool is soupy to watery though. And I imagine they're quite uncomfortable with that big donut on the end up your bung and inflated with water.

The problem is similar to diving with a dry suit. You don't want to pee or poo in one. Yet you might be out on a job and unable to hold it long enough. If you know that's a possibility, you wear a diaper. And pray. Wet suits, no problem. Pee can be quite useful if the water's pretty cold. The poo part can require some acrobatics in deep water, but if you can reach the bottom for a minute it's pretty straightforward.

Laser knickers that instantly zap any and all moist stuffs that comes into contact with it, leaving nothing but a nice velvety soft talcum-like powder to keep your bum baby smooth and moisture free.



I'll take my payment in small bills please.







Edit to add:

I've decided to name my invention too.

The Combustible Rump Astro-Pod

I have an idea.

It would involve standing, tho.

Or maybe not, in zero G.