Looking ahead to extended moon missions when re-supply will be over 240,000 miles away, Marshall engineers have assembled key aspects of the station's ECLSS waste water processor technology to explore how this system might work on a future lunar habitat.

This redesigned hardware, the Exploration Water Recovery System, is a novel combination of proven air and water purification technologies and optimizes the treatment of various wastewater streams. The system reclaims urine and condensation from perspiration and through a series of treatment processes, creates water clean enough to drink.

"To support human life on the moon, we'll need robust and efficient life support systems that can work well without a large amount of consumables," said Monsi Roman, Exploration Life Support Project Manager. "Our hope is to mature current life support technologies to be able minimize the amount of materials we need to bring up to space to support future crews."

For the next six weeks, Marshall will test this new hardware. The goal of this test is to examine the efficiency of the water processor to remove different types of contaminants from the waste water. NASA engineers want to determine how to increase the system efficiency and extend the life of expendables needed to keep clean water flowing.

More than 50 employees are participating in the Exploration Water Recovery System test. For the study, 20 employees exercise for an hour a day, generating water vapor through perspiration and respiration in the Regenerative ECLSS Module Simulator -- a mockup of a space module filled with treadmills, a bicycle, rowing machine and other exercise equipment. Individuals also "donate" urine as part of this test.

Before stepping into the module for a session, participants are provided with a white T-shirt to wear, a towel for drying off and a bottle of water or a sports energy drink to consume as they exercise. They weigh-in on a computerized scale, with the bottle of water in-hand. Sopping wet T-shirts and used towels are left hanging inside overnight to evaporate more sweat out of them. Participants also brush their teeth, wipe themselves down with wet towels and the men even shave -- simulating the daily routine of a station crew member -- to get every bit of moisture into the atmosphere. Participants even microwave meals inside the module to generate water vapor and the aroma from the food.

"We know this equipment can create water cleaner than water from municipal water systems here on Earth," said Keith Parrish, ECLSS Test Facility manager. "We hope we can refine the process so future crews will need fewer supplies to generate water for longer space missions -- whether on the moon or Mars."

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