WEBVTT

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🎵 [music] 🎵

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KIDS: Our World!

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EVAN: Wow Globey, water sure is
heavy.

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You can get a tough workout
just lifting water.

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One gallon of water weighs
almost 4 kilograms.

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That's over pounds or as much
as lifting 2 bags

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of flour or sugar at the same
time.

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And did you know that over half
the human body is water.

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We use water to break down food
and get rid of waste.

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We also use waste to transport
food throughout the body.

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In fact, all living things need
a regular supply of water

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to stay healthy.

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You have probably been told
that you need 8 glasses

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of water everyday. But we use

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water in lots of other ways as
well.

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Think about how much water we
use for showers, to wash our

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clothes, to flush our toilets,
or to prepare our food.

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Most people in the United
States use over 302 litters or

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about 80 gallons of water each
day. That's a lot of water.

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Astronauts need to use water
too.

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But all the water for the
International Space Station or

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for any future long term
missions has to be sent up

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on a spacecraft. Like the
shuttle.

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Think about how much weight
that must add to the

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space craft. The more the space
craft weighs, the more fuel it

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needs, and the more expensive
it becomes to send into space.

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Besides, water takes up a lot
of space.

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If NASA wants to send
astronauts somewhere for a long

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period of time, they need to
bring an enormous amount

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of water to survive...
or would they?

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Since October of 2000, a full
time crew of 3 people has lived

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on the The International Space
Station. The ISS was built by

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several countries all working
together.

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Current NASA missions help add
parts to the station that will

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make life a bit easier and
allow an even larger crew

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to live there. As it turns out,
the astronauts who live on

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the space station are much
better at conserving

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water than we are.
Each astronaut only uses

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between 11 and 12 liters or

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about 3 gallons of water each
day.

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Still the astronauts need a
constant supply of clean water

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and oxygen on the space station
to survive.

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One of the main challenges is
trying to figure out how to

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give the astronauts enough
water to use without allowing

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any water to go to waste.

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I have one word for you...
Recycle.

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Monsi Roman is the Project
Manager for Exploration Life

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Support at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center.

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She and other scientists are
studying, testing, and creating

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life support systems that will
help our astronauts live for

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extended lengths of time in
space, and on the

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International Space Station.

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MONSI ROMAN: This wonderful
facility is actually the place

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where we bring people to come
and exercise. This is the

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place where we collect all
human metabolic loads.

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Which mainly means we collect
humidity from

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sweat and respiration. We
collect humidity from food

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because we cook foods in here
too. We also bring to this

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area water from urine and
shower, shower water.

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Any waste water that is
produced by humans

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during hygiene. Like brushing
your teeth, washing your hands,

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shower water, all that. It's
put together in this area.

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EVAN: That's right. They're
actually testing ways to use

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every bit of water on the ISS.

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And that even means changing a
person's urine into water that

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the astronauts can drink. Now I
know that may sound a

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bit yucky. But it's actually a
very smart and very necessary

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way to help astronauts survive.

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And the more drinkable water
they have on the International

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Space Station, the more
astronauts they can have

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living there. In fact, a water
processor has just been sent to

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the space station which will
eventually allow them to

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double the size of the
station's crew.

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TIM KOPRA: Hi, I'm Tim Kopra,
one of the crew of the

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International Space Station.
Our station is currently

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orbiting 240 miles above the
Earth and traveling at

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17500 miles per hour.

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You know, if you were to buy a
bottle of water here, it would

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cost about 20 thousand dollars.
It takes a lot of rocket fuel

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to ship water and other
supplies into outer space.

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And that's really expensive, so
it makes a lot of sense to

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recycle our water and use it
over and over again.

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Below me is a system on board
called the

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water recovery system. And it's
connected to our water

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dispenser and that's what this
whole device is about.

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About recycling our water. We
use this to provide our fresh

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water on board space station.

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It's important to be able to
recycle water especially when

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we look forward to future
missions to the Moon,

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Mars, and beyond. The water
recovery system or WRS

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cuts the need for delivery of
fresh water to the ISS

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by about 65%. It will recycle
6,000 pounds of water

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every year. The WRS can

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recycle about 93% of the water
it receives. Look at this.

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This is some drinking water
that I got from our water

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dispenser from the WRS and it's
recycled.

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Tastes good.

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EVAN: Another thing the
astronauts need to conserve

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is oxygen. Everyone knows we
humans need oxygen to breathe.

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Humans breathe in oxygen and
breathe out carbon dioxide

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or CO2. Currently on the
International Space Station,

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that CO2 collected and send it
out into space.

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Today's scientists are looking
for ways to recycle that CO2.

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Pulling the oxygen from it, so
nothing goes to waste.

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Scientists aren't just working
on recycling water and oxygen

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so astronauts can live on the
International Space Station.

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NASA's wants to continue to
explore far away places

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in space. In order to make that
happen, our astronauts

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will need to rely on these
recycling efforts.

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That also means the machines
that change waste into clean

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water and clean oxygen will
need to run for long periods of

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time without breaking down. And
if they do break down,

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they'll need to be able to be
fixed easily and quickly.

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MONSI ROMAN: Things do break.
That would be one of our

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biggest... but the other thing
is looking at alternatives,

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at new things. New technologies
are coming up

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that we were unable to look at
when we started the design of

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the space station 20, 25 years
ago.

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Now we have other technologies
available. And if we can

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inject those technologies into
the technologies that we

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already know work, and see how
we can make them better.

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EVAN: Things have already
changed a lot since astronauts

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first went to live on the
International Space Station.

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Hopefully through recycling,
we'll be able to send future

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astronauts into space for
really long periods of time.

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And the longer they can stay in
space, the farther

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they'll be able to travel.
But more importantly, just

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think of what we'll be able to
learn about recycling that we

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can use here on Earth. NASA
technology can help us change

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the way our water treatment
plants help make water safe.

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And we can learn a lot from
astronauts about

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water conservation.

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So the next time you're
brushing your teeth, think

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about the astronauts and
remember to turn off

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the faucet while brushing.

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? [music] ?

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KIDS: Our World!

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