Water Recovery in Space Development of a Membrane Based Water Treatment Process for Long Range Missions 2000-01-2388

In the absence of recycling, water represents over 90% of the life-support consumables for a human spacecraft. In addition, over 90% of the waste water generated can be classified as either moderately or slightly contaminated (e.g. shower water, condensate from the air-conditioning system, etc..) The ability to recover potable water from moderately contaminated waste water hence enables significant savings to be made in resupply costs. A development model of such a water-recovery system, based on membrane technology, has been produced and tested using ‘real waste water’ based on used shower water. Results indicate some 95% recovery of potable water meeting European Space Agency (ESA) standards, with total elimination of microbial contaminants such as bacteria, spores and viruses.A second phase focused on improving the functioning of the breadboard and to test it in a long duration test (5-6 months).