Picture this, you're alone in the dark depths of space and desperately needing a drink.
What would your preferred beverage be? A cold glass of water? A refreshing beer? Or what about foregoing those and supping on your own urine instead?
Well in the not-too-distant future, this idea could become a reality for NASA astronauts as Cornell University researchers are currently working on an innovative new type of spacesuit.
Advert
Dealing with regular bodily functions are a little more complicated when you're hundreds of miles away from the surface of the earth.
For you and I, dealing with bodily needs such as passing urine/faeces or keeping adequately hydrated are pretty straightforward.
But things aren't as easy when you're out in the depths of space.
While the International Space Station has already come up with a method to harness sweat, urine and breath and create drinking water, astronauts who venture outside for maintenance or space walks are left wearing what is essentially an adult nappy.
Advert
The familiar puffy white spacesuits feature a maximum absorbency garment which works by absorbing the wearer's bodily fluids, meaning they are able to go to the bathroom while wearing them.
The garments can collect up to one litre of urine and 75 grams of fecal matter for the wearer.
Now understandably your options are limited in space, but spending hours working while sat in a suit of your own waste is not a nice thought. It's also common for the garments to leak, with astronauts even reporting being unable to tell if fluid in their suit is sweat or urine.
Advert
Other astronauts have even reported suffering from urinary tract infections after wearing the suit. Grim.
With this in mind, researchers at Cornell University have created a prototype for a new spacesuit which can turn urine into viable drinking water, like the stillsuits used by the Fremen in Denis Villeneuve's Dune films.
The suit will work by having a moulded silicone collection cup fitted around the wearer's genitals which then connects to moisture-activated vacuum pump.
Activated by the wearer urinating, the pump is connected to a filtration system which can purify urine in around five minutes, with an 87 percent efficiency rate.
Advert
"If you’re giving NASA billions of dollars, you’d think they wouldn’t keep the diaper," Sofia Etlin, Cornell researcher and co-designer of the suit, said, adding that 'spacesuits as we know it are being reimagined'.
"Even in the absence of a large desert planet, like in Dune, this is something that could be better for astronauts," Prof Christopher Mason, of Weill Cornell Medicine, the study’s senior author, added.
Researchers are hoping to recruit volunteers to test the suit out later this year, with the aim of NASA being able to use them in future Artemis missions, which hopes to eventually allow humans to land on Mars.
Brenna Cooper