Liquid/solid waste management

The radiators reject between 1 0 0 and 3 5 0 W of internally generated heat per square meter, which means that the entire array can radiate up to 8 4 0 0 0 W or 0 .0 8 4 m e g aw atts.

Liquid and Solid Waste Management

Everyone knows how important water is. Human beings require constant hydration during for every day of their life. Recycling water on board of the settlement is, therefore, a key aspect of life in space.

The walls of the water collection modules are covered in a special material discovered by mechanical engineer Kyoo-Chul Park and his team of researchers. The results of his research, published in the February edition of the Nature journal [8], describe a beetle-inspired material which condenses airborne water vapor into liquid 1 0 tim e s faste r than any other known material. After collection, the water is purified and sent back to the spacecraft’s crew systems.

Fig 5.5 Time-lapsed images of droplets condensed on slippery surfaces (Kyoo-Chul Park and Joanna Aizenberg)

When it comes to fully recycling solid waste, no current technology can be considered economical enough to be put into practice. However, after the extraction of water, remaining waste can be partially transformed into fertilizer or fuel.

In spite of the high performance of the water purification system, the settlement may require additional refills from Earth or from comets.