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Astronaut to test sports drink made from urine


The Atlantis space shuttle. (Getty Images)

The idea of being an astronaut just got a whole less appealing.

Sure, you get to visit space and do somersaults in a zero-gravity atmosphere. But you also have to drink your own urine.

One astronaut aboard the newly-launched Atlantis space shuttle will test a urine recycling system that utilizes a “forward osmosis” bag. Eventually, the bag will produce a sugar-flavored sports drink.

The same kind of recycling system is already utilized by soldiers, but this is the first time the kit will be used in space.

Astronauts at the Space Station already consume purified urine with the help of a more elaborate recycling system, according to But that system drains the station’s power resources.

“Forward osmosis is a low-resource water treatment technology that can be ideal for spaceflight applications,” according to NASA. “It utilizes a semi-permeable membrane and a liquid osmotic concentrate to convert non-potable water into a liquid that is safe for consumption.”

Wondering what this looks like? Check out these NASA photos.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports the recycling system has big implications for life here on Earth, too:

The bags work without power by taking advantage of forward osmosis. It involves the natural diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrance that acts as a barrier so that small molecules such as water pass through while larger molecules such as salts, sugars, starches, proteins, viruses, bacteria and parasites are blocked.

The resulting, clean liquid is combined with a sugar flavour additive. NASA says any liquid, not just human waste water, can be cleaned using the system and there have already been trials in villages in Kenya and during disaster relief efforts in Haiti and Chile.



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