A technology that can convert human urine into drinkable water could be sent to Mars with astronauts who pioneer the Red Planet with the Mars One mission.
Mars one is having a University Challenge that will determine one independent project that will be included in the highly anticipated mission, and one of the candidates is the Urine Greenbox from Ohio State University. The innovation would convert urine directly into clean water and hydrogen.
During the 2018 unmanned flight to Mars human urine would be carried along with the technology in order to determine if it would be effective in the 2025 mission that will carry humans to the planet. The system could also effectively extract nitrogen from the urine.
"The proposed system will include the capability to measure the amount of clean water produced, hydrogen produced, nitrogen produced, energy produced, and basic sensors to test the quality of the water," Mars One stated.
The Urine Greenbox is expected to convert 20 milliliters of urine carried from Earth into about 16 mL of clean water. The hydrogen produced by the GreenBox will be paired with a fuel cell to demonstrate a rate of energy recovery of about 53 percent.
The project would be built by the Ohio University (OHIO) through the Center for Electrochemical Engineering Research (CEER), and by the same team that originally developed the technology for military purposes.
Testing the technology on Mars is important because of the varied gravity levels, which could cause the technology to operate differently than it does on Earth.
The researchers believe the fact that the team has successfully produced the Urine GreenBox for the Department of Defense means there is an increased chance this technology will pan out for use in space travel.
"Water is the priority for life. This project will demonstrate a technology that allows direct conversion of urine to clean water with energy recovery," Mars One reported.
For additional information on the contest CLICK HERE.
