TaoJoannes wrote:What about something like a Dune stillsuit that would have hidden levers and wires and stuff that could charge a batterypak you could plug into various things, or maybe download to a master battery repository or something.
That would be cool, Plug your cellphone into your pants, heh.
Astronauts finding new Tang in their own brand
Posted 07.19.2006 by daphne
More than making sweet, sweet moonshine, distillation is the process of separating pure water from any other pollutant that might accompany it. Like urine. It's the stuff of science fiction -- like the stillsuits of Dune, as The Big Wiper discussed.
This technology, while not available in a suit, has now found its way into our country's space travel. But astronauts aren't sprinkling Tang into peewater -- no, they've taken the process one step further.
Space travel is hampered by our current ability to efficiently provide water and oxygen for the astronauts. Both elements take extensive real estate and planning when deep space travel is considered.
We need about 1.5 pounds of oxygen per day. When a shorter trip into space is planned, liquid oxygen is more efficient. But in order to keep oxygen liquid, it has to remain at a temperature of -297 degrees Fahrenheit -- and the cooling process just isn't practical when one is in space longer than three weeks. The old process of "firing up" contained oxygen (actually releasing it into the ship by burning it) has been mostly reliable, but problems with it can arise. And compressed air transported in tanks has proved too heavy to be practical.
Another alternative is using electrolysis -- the process of separating oxygen from hydrogen -- to create breathable oxygen. Russia's space program has done so for some years now using a device called the Elektron, which uses electrolysis to convert the elements present in water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen gets dumped overboard, and the oxygen gets breathed.
But electrolysis requires water, and water requires real estate. Which is why NASA is turning to a new source of water: wastewater from the ship's crew. Yes. Wastewater. This means pee.
NASA has finally given the OK to installing their Oxygen Generating System on the International Space Station. While it won't be actually employed as the primary source of oxygen until a urine-to-water recovery and distillation system has been implemented in the ship, the OGS's inclusion in last week's space shuttle flight forecasts its imminent utilization.
The urine --> H20 --> 02 method of supplying oxygen to a shuttle crew is so efficient and saves so much real estate that the number of people on a space project could double from three to six. Even more important, this process also clears a serious hurdle blocking off-planet colonization. Astronauts finding new Tang in their own brand
http://www.poopreport.com/BMnewswire/as ... _tang.htmlActually, I think there is already a generator that uses the flexion of the knees to generate enough energy to charge a cellphone. There are several that attach to bikes.
"A man is rich when he has time and freewill. How he chooses to invest both will determine the return on his investment."