In The Martian , Matt Damon used his own shit to fertilize spud and survive the Red Planet . While we all know Matt Damon is n’t actually an astronaut , we do know that human excrement is very much real — and it could be integral to getting actual humans to Mars in the near hereafter .
Researchers from Clemson Universityare studyinghow particle from astronauts ’ fret and pee can be convert into plastics that can be used for putz aboard a spacecraft . The squad is concentre on a strain of barm call Yarrowia lipolytica , which astronauts would hypothetically feed with the C and nitrogen in their excrements . The yeast would then act like a “ space recycler , ” creating oils and fats that can eventually be craft into bioplastics . Their piece of work will be demonstrate this week at the 254th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society ( ACS ) .
If all goes concord to plan , the Yarrowia lipolytica will be mastermind to make polyester , which we lie with as the poppycock that make kind of uncomfortable wearable . But on the longsighted head trip to Mars , this plastic can be feed into 3D printer , which will hypothetically be able to make cock for spaceman on demand . So if something breaks along the elbow room — no worries ! Something can whip up a pee peter in no time .
Astronauts on prospicient commission wo n’t be able to pack a ton of extra power train for their trips , since this would make the ship heavier and tot up to fuel costs necessitate to shell the ballistic capsule out of Earth ’s orbit . Because long - duration space travel will involve spaceman to be supernumerary thrifty , recycling pee actually makes a lot of sense when you believe about it — in fact , spaceman are already doing this in a different capacity aboard the International Space Station ( ISS ) .
“ We presently wassail our processed pee and sweat on the ISS,”former NASA astronaut and STEAM educator Leland Melvintold Gizmodo . “ thing like pee , poo , [ and ] hygiene are so important . They are the basic thing that — if you do n’t get right — kill the missionary work because people can get sick . But on the flip side , it cuts down on your consumables when what has historically been your rubbish basically becomes your hoarded wealth . ”
Like less place - faring humans , astronauts poop . The preferably we can change state their excrements into something useful , the closer we get to becoming amulti - planetary metal money . Hurray ?
ScienceSpace
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