If you think pooping and weeing is simple, then think again. Astronauts are facing pooping and weeing problems in outer space! To help them, NASA launched a $30,000-dollar Space Poop Challenge. All you have to do is to redesign the NASA space suit that will help astronauts poop and wee freely as they float around in space!
To win the $30,000-dollar Space Poop Challenge, you have to redesign the NASA space suit to include a space waste management system. NASA's design competition about space poop is not as simple as you think it is. NASA's tentatively calling the redesigned space suit with in-suit space waste management, The Solution, and here are its minimum requirements to win the Space Poop Challenge!
The Solution should keep fecal and/or urine wastes away from the astronaut's body for a minimum of 144 hours or six days while in the space suit.
The Solution should operate in microgravity.
The Solution should operate under a pressure of 4.3 PSID and 100% oxygen environment.
The Solution should be easily worn by an astronaut on his/her own in less than five minutes.
The Solution should operate while an astronaut is moving, bending, and/or sitting and strapped in a chair.
The Solution should manage at least one liter of urine, seventy-five grams of fecal mass and seventy-five grams of fecal volume, or eighty milligrams of menstrual cycle wastes or all three human wastes.
The Solution should operate effectively for both male and female astronauts of varying sizes.
And the most important requirement of the NASA redesigned space suit is:
The Solution should be operated HANDS-FREE!
If your entry to NASA's Space Poop Challenge wins, you and your team would not only get the $30,000-dollar prize but will see your NASA redesigned space suit implemented and used in space missions in three to four years. Are you up to the challenge? Head on over to NASA's Space Poop Challenge page to learn more about the other requirements and limitations in the competition.
