Astronauts on spacewalks famously have to relieve themselves inside their spacesuits. Not only is this uncomfortable for the wearer and unhygienic, it is also wasteful, as—unlike wastewater on board the International Space Station (ISS)—the water in urine from spacewalks is not recycled.

Astronauts on spacewalks famously have to relieve themselves inside their spacesuits. Not only is this uncomfortable for the wearer and unhygienic, it is also wasteful, as—unlike wastewater on board the International Space Station (ISS)—the water in urine from spacewalks is not recycled.

    • @anton@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      6•1 year ago

      For the ISS it adds to the launch weight of suits and takes up additional space when using airlocks and in storage.
      For a moon/mars mission (claimed use case in the article) it increases your center of mass and your inertia, resulting in more astronauts falling over.

    • @Fermion@feddit.nlEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      Mass still costs energy to move around. Spacewalks already sound pretty strenuous. Adding any additional exertion seems like it would need a really good benefit to be worth the tradeoff.