NASA Water Recovery System Urine Reuse Distillation
NASA’s Water Recovery System aboard the International Space Station is so efficient that it even lets astronauts reuse urine after vacuum distillation. Part of the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), this system basically collects wastewater and sends it to the Water Processor Assembly (WPA), which produces drinkable water.



Advanced dehumidifiers capture moisture released into the cabin air from crew breath and sweat, while the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) performs exactly as it sounds. It recovers water from urine using vacuum distillation. The distillation process not only produces water, but also a urine brine that still contains some reclaimable water. A Brine Processor Assembly (BPA) then extracts this remaining wastewater and runs it through a special membrane technology before blowing warm, dry air over the brine to evaporate the water. This produces humid air that is collected by the space station’s collection systems.


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NASA Water Recovery System Urine Reuse Distillation

The processing is fundamentally similar to some terrestrial water distribution systems, just done in microgravity. The crew is not drinking urine; they are drinking water that has been reclaimed, filtered, and cleaned such that it is cleaner than what we drink here on Earth. We have a lot of processes in place and a lot of ground testing to provide confidence that we are producing clean, potable water,” said Jill Williamson, ECLSS water subsystems manager.