This
story was updated at 10:31 a.m. EST.
After days
of glitches and tweaks, a new recycling system designed to turn astronaut urine
back into drinking water is apparently working well aboard the International
Station.
The space
station's urine processor, part of a larger wastewater
recycling system, worked non-stop for a full four-hour test and longer late
Monday to the delight of astronauts and NASA engineers. The system
is crucial if the space station is to jump to double-sized, six-person
crews next year.
"Not
to spoil it, but I think up here we're feeling, the appropriate words are
'Yippee!'" station commander Michael Fincke said after the four-hour mark.
"There
will be dancing later," Mission Control joked back.
Fincke
said it made a few noises like a "washing machine in a spin cycle" for a short
time but then went back to normal.
Another
vital test at the station early Tuesday checked the health of a massive
starboard side gear designed to turn the station's right side solar arrays so
they always face the sun and maximize power production.
Endeavour
shuttle astronauts performed a four-spacewalk
overhaul on the vital 10-foot (3-meter) gear over the last week to replace
damaged bearings, lubricate it and clean out metal shavings that had clogged
its intricate mechanism.
The test ran
about three hours, or two laps around Earth for the station, with flight
controllers finding that the gear was running smoother and drawing less power
than it did before its unprecedented spacewalk clean and lube job.
Space
station flight director Ginger Kerrick said flight controllers will be keeping
a close eye on the power levels and vibrations from the starboard solar array
gear, but it will likely take several months before engineers will know the
results of the Endeavour crew's repairs.
Urine
recycler results encouraging
The urine
recycler is part of the station's
new Water Recovery System delivered by Endeavour last week to collect
astronaut urine, sweat and other wastewater and distill it back into potable
water for drinking, food preparation, bathing and oxygen generation. The system
is part of a $250 million regenerative life support designed to sustain larger
space station crews with fewer supply runs from visiting spacecraft, with the
first six-person crew due to arrive at the orbiting lab next May.
But the
system's urine processor only worked in spurts over the last few days,
operating from as little as two hours to a peak performance of about 3 1/2
hours. NASA extended the Endeavour crew's stay at the space station by an extra
day Monday to allow more time to work with the balky device.
Fincke and Endeavour
astronaut Don Pettit removed a set of washer-like vibration dampeners from
the system during their first repair attempt Sunday. On Monday, the added a
pair of support brackets to hold the system's centrifuge in place more
securely.
Monday's
overnight test set a new bar. Mission Control shut the unit down after the
successful test and then restarted it for a new trial early Tuesday morning.
"I'd like
to congratulate the entire team because we've been operating for four hours and
two minutes now," Fincke said before going to sleep late Monday.
Fincke
loaded the urine processer up with a new batch and told Mission Control not to
worry about running out.
"We've got
a full tank of yesterday's coffee here ready to fill up at any time," Fincke
said.
"Sounds
like a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it," Mission Control replied.
The
machine is designed to spend about four hours distilling water from astronaut
urine. Endeavour astronauts will return samples of the processed water back to
Earth for analysis, though NASA engineers plan to run more tests for 90 days
before astronauts can begin drinking it.
"I
think if we can get past the four-hour mark, I think we're going to be good,"
Pettit said.
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