this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2024
25 points (96.3% liked)
Interesting Shares
1057 readers
228 users here now
Share interesting articles, projects, research, pictures, or videos.
Please include a prefix in your title!
Prefixes for posts
Certain clients offer filters to make prefixes searchable. Photon (m.lemmy.zip) used for hyperlinks below:
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Why are they caring the whole purification plant on their backs?
Wouldn't it be easier to carry the collection part and exchange wastewater and drinking water with the station?
Good question but I guess it doesn't matter as much in space where you don't weigh as much.
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.
I doubt launch weight would be a huge issue.
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.
Depends on the weight. It might be lighter and easier to work with than a collection unit and a water supply tank.