NASA has just launched a competition that will help revolutionized space travel for all astronauts and generations of space travel to come: Having a toilet in their suit for their poop. This may be an non-glamorous topic but it's all for the sake of survival
According to the competition details, the new concept for suits having a "toilet" function would help them a great deal. The ISS may the only thing that houses the astronaut far away from Earth, having amenities that like a "toilet" that uses a vacuum to suck up and store any fecal matter (or "poop").
However, if anything goes wrong with the station, such as damages or loss of vehicle pressure, astronauts would have survive without the station for quite some time for the time being, especially if it takes days. And one of their means of survival is releasing waste, which means they would need to "poop" in their suits.
While this isn't really an alarming concern for ISS since it's possible for astronauts to return to Earth within a few hours, this new mechanism would work for NASA's plans to go to Mars within the next 15 years, where it's highly possible that astronauts would be stuck in their suits for days.
The next generation of suits that NASA came up with - "Z2" suits, as they are called - should be able to provide clean air, shelter, water and enough nutrients to astronauts for up to six days straight, according to Astronaut Richard Mastracchio. This is actually enough time to get back to return back home.
The issue of getting rid of human waste matter was also addressed which is why the Z2 suits would be able to provide that for sake of comfort and health. Mastracchio mentioned that if "poop" or any waste matter remains for a long period of time, "infection or even sepsis can set in," which could be harmful or even fatal for astronauts.
Therefore, NASA has actually opened a prize platform named "Hero X," where any idea to safely solve the problem of "pooping" for astronauts is welcome. This is a 22-day competition (which began Nov. 29) with a prize of $30,000. Those who have any great ideas to help our space representatives from Earth can sign up here.
Mastracchio added that "it isn't glamorous, but it is necessary for survival."
Here's a video demonstrating the features:
