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DAISY: Nothing is off limits,
when it comes to NASA getting

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the most out of all of it’s
resources...

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In fact, even a bit of
perspiration is turned into

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inspiration by some of NASA’s
best and brightest.

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NASA’s version of Sweat Equity
is next... on Real World.

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? [music] ?

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DAISY: Life on the
international space station

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is a bit of a miracle. In the
upper atmosphere, where the

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shuttle orbits, many of the
elements needed for human

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survival don’t exist.

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So NASA has come up with some
very creative ways to ensure

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not only survival, but comfort
as well.

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And they do it with something
called Environmental Control

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and Life Suppport Systems or
ECLSS.

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MONSI ROMAN: Basically ECLSS
encompasses any system that

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will help you live comfortably
without thinking.

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DAISY: Monsi Roman is the
Project Manager for

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Exploration Life Support.

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MONSI: Basically clean air,
clean water, temperatures,

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humidities that are
comfortable, anything that will

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allow you to survive, in an
area, and work comfortably.

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DAISY: ECLSS takes care of the
air, removing CO2 and other

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chemicals that are harmful to
astronauts.

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It also provides oxygen.
ECLSS also regulates humidity.

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Humidity is moisture in the
atmosphere. We calculate

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relative humidity to get a
sense of how much moisture is

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in the air. Relative humidity
is a measure of the amount of

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the amount of water in the air
compared with the amount of

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water the air can hold at the
temperature it happens to be

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when you are measuring it.
Relative Humidity is expressed

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as a percentage and can be
calculated by using this

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equation. Relative Humidity
equals Actual Vapor Density

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divided by Saturated Vapor
Density times 100.

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By keeping the humidity low on
the space station, ECLSS

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provides a comfortable
environment for astronauts,

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plus keeps things like bacteria
or fungus from growing on

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the station in unwanted places.
Now here’s where it comes full

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circle. The moisture that is in
the air, is pulled out

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landing on a cold piece of
metal that causes it to

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condensate, just like a
dehumidifier would work in your

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house. The end result is water
that is then treated and made

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ready to be reused, even as
drinking water. In fact, ECLSS

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can recycle just about any
water used on the space station

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and turn it into drinkable
water. Since water makes up

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about 60 percent of each of us,

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this is a really important
feature on the space station.

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MONSI: Any Waste water, any
water that comes out of humans

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or produced by humans, doing
hygiene, like brushing their

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teeth, washing their hands,
shower water, all that.

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DAISY: Monsi and her team
developed ECLSS at Marshal

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Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Alabama,

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in a space that was once
supposed to be a module of the

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space station, but is now used
for testing systems

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that are earmarked for ISS.

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MONSI: When we’re in testing,
all of the hatches are closed.

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We bring people in. We inject
air that is very clean,

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extremely clean air, that is
devoid of humidity, cause we do

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not want humidity from the
outside. What we want to do is

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collect the metabolic load, or
the perspiration

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and the humidity.

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DAISY: All that testing led to
the system that does the same

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thing on the space station.
And the latest addition to

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ECLSS on the space station, a
new water processor,

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really ups the anti.

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MONSI: We’re really excited.
That marks the first time ever,

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ever, that any nation has done
water recycling, including

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urine, with the purpose of
drinking.

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We have done something that has
never been done before, which

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is taking all the waste waters,
all of them,

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clean them up and return it
back to the crew.

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DAISY: It greatly reduces the
amount of water astronauts need

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to take from the earth to the
station.

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In fact, about 92 percent of
the water that is put out by

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humans is recovered back into
the system.

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It’s an important component in
increasing the crew size on the

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station from 3 to 6. It all
adds up to the most productive

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environment for the people who
live and work on

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the international space
station.

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MONSI: All those things, that’s
exactly what ECLSS does.

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All those systems maintain the
humans from having to worry

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about their surroundings. We
take care of that.

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They take care of the work, and
the experiments

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and the other things.

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DAISY: You can learn more about
ECLSS, the International Space

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Station and all of NASA, at
www.nasa.gov.

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? [music] ?

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