| < Water > |
| Water figures out as one of the most attractive items to play around at the International Space Station ISS. Nevertheless, it also caused a recent accident, filling the helmet of ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano. Fortunately, the first Italian space-walker just got a little bit wet. Apparently, cooling water slowly leaked out into his oxygen supply. It first filled his hair, ears and eyes. When mission control heard about water creeping into his nose, the excursion was aborted. Later, about 1 1/2 liters of water were found in the removed helmet. |
| Ironically, the same NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg demonstrating to us how to wash her hair without gravity helped signore Parmitano to get rid of his water-filled helmet (by the way: she is an expert in space suit cooling systems...). Apart from its evident dangers, water will always be the most precious cargo for human space travellers. While indispensible for human life as drinking water, the ISS presently obtains its breathable oxygen from water by electrolysis. Last not least, water is helpful for keeping our bodies clean. |
| Without gravity, water is not running down or flowing around on the ground as we are used to it. If left on its own, it assumes a perfect spherical shape and stays quietly floating in space. Only in contact with hydrophilic surfaces (as e.g. our skin) it is willing to give up its splendid isolation. Washing yourself without gravity is on the one side easier, because the water stays where you put it, on the other side more difficult, because it doesn't run away by itself. To my impression, most water set free on the ISS ends up in myriads of towels (and I wonder if it is recycled from there). |
| On my biological space colony, cast away for some years far from all towel suppliers on Earth, passengers would not resign their cultivated manners to inevitable shortnesses in body care products. On the contrary: I imagine one of the central balloons (8 m diameter; too dark for efficient photosynthesis) to be filled to 50% with water. The water would form a large, slightly deformed sphere contacting the outer wall of the balloon (remember: my station is rotating once in 24 h). Into this sphere, any crew member feeling the need of a bath may cautiously immerse his/her body, paying attention to keep the head out of the water. |
| Without too much agitation, the water should stay compact and should not drift where you don't want it. It will be wise to equip this balloon with several ropes to cling to, because the attempt to swim may have unforeseeable consequences; e.g. I have no idea whether you wouldn't be dragged inside the water sphere. One hand on a rope, you may use a sponge with the other. The rest of this adventure is open to your imagination - no human has tried this before. For hygienic reasons, the content of the "swimming pool" may be recycled after a month or two (depending on the frequency of use) into a neighboring balloon. |
| It may appear risky to entrust a huge quantity of precious water to a relatively fragile balloon. Maybe it is wiser to restrict this bathing facility to one of the more robust and considerably smaller carbon fibre spheres (diameter 3 m), but of course the 8 m transparent balloon makes a much more enticing picture. And since these inner balloons are surrounded by several layers of carbon fibre lattice and other balloons, they should be rather safe. Anyhow, such a huge bathing sphere may be reserved for a real luxury station in its final state of refinement, devoted more to relaxation than to body care. |
| Since vapor containing air is all the time flowing through a chain of spheres, tubes and balloons of variable temperature, water will condensate in the colder districts. The tiny pseudo-gravity resulting from the station turning around once in 24 h will lead to the accumulation of droplets and larger chunks of water at outwardly directed (predictable) troughs. From there, it could be aspirated and reprocessed. This job could be done by small robots continuously on the run, bringing the water back to the plant-growing balloons. Such an automatic water managment system might work even in the absence of human gardeners, under remote control from Earth. |
| MB 8/13 |
| next: Soil back to: Electricity overview |
