In yesterday's post, we explored sources of inspiration for fashion design students, moving from urban features. While the urban landscape around us can spark creativity, science journals also offer rich inspirations, opening up an entirely different world for fashion designers.
Leading research publisher Frontiers produces, for example, a variety of journals about different topics and disciplines, including Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Marine Science and Manufacturing Technology and Medicine, just to mention a few of them.
Last week Frontiers in Space Technology published an intriguing essay that, as we will see in this post, combines literature, film, fashion and space research. The essay, entitled "Enhanced astronaut hygiene and mission efficiency: a novel approach to in-suit waste management and water recovery in spacewalks," presents a research on the possibility of creating a spacesuit that can turn urine into drinking water.
Before analyzing the essay, it's important to note thatn in space, urine and sweat are considered as valuable resources and they are recycled. On the International Space Station (ISS), for instance, a sophisticated system filters, distills, purifies, and recycles humidity and urine.
Indeed, astronauts often say, "yesterday's urine is tomorrow's coffee," highlighting the recycling process. Urine is collected and treated with chemicals to prevent it from breaking down into ammonia and other gases. Sweat is also extracted from the air and processed alongside urine. The resulting water is approximately 50% from urine and 50% from sweat (considering the rising temperatures and increasing water scarcity on Earth, the recycling methods applied in space could be crucial for our future...).
However, during extravehicular activities (EVAs), the situation is different. Astronauts wear a disposable diaper known as the Maximum Absorbency Garment (MAG), which collects urine and feces. Unfortunately, the MAG often leaks and is uncomfortable and unhygienic. Prolonged exposure to waste can lead to hygiene-related medical issues such as urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal distress.
Besides, the 0.95 L In-suit Drink Bag (IDB) is insufficient for longer spacewalks, necessitating a more efficient water management solution. Previously, to avoid unpleasant incidents, astronauts limited food intake or consumed low-residue diets before spacewalks, which reduced their work performance and posed health risks.
The new urine collection and filtration system developed at Weill Cornell Medical College's Mason Lab, is aimed at addressing these issues. The system uses a vacuum-based external catheter to collect urine and filter it into potable water through forward and reverse osmosis (FO-RO), promoting a sustainable circular water economy.
The modified MAG is made from flexible, antimicrobial fabric and features a silicone urine collection cup designed for both male and female anatomies. The inner surface of the cup is lined with a comfortable, moisture-wicking fabric, such as polyester microfiber or a nylon-spandex blend. This material draws urine to its outer surface, away from the body, allowing it to be removed via a vacuum pump. Besides, the inner layer includes a small patch of highly absorbent hydrogel connected to a passive RFID tag. When the hydrogel absorbs moisture, it becomes conductive enough to transmit a signal to an RFID reader, activating the pump.
Once collected, the urine is diverted to the FO-RO system, which aims for 75% water recovery with minimal energy consumption.
This system maintains low salt levels and removes major urine solutes such as urea, uric acid, ammonia, and calcium. Collecting and purifying 500ml of urine takes only five minutes. The purified water can then be enriched with electrolytes and returned to the astronaut as an energy drink, ensuring hydration and replenishment during missions.
The whole FO-RO system would be placed in a pouch that could be mounted on the back of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). The device is expected to add roughly 8 kg to overall EMU weight, fitting in an area of 38 cm by 23 cm with a depth of 23 cm.
The suit’s creators hope it could be deployed before 2030 in Nasa's Artemis III Mission (scheduled for 2026), that should land a crew on the lunar south pole, which is focused on learning how to live and work for prolonged periods on another world.
Further research is needed to refine and implement this technology, enhancing astronaut health and deep space exploration capabilities. Yet this system also suggests a transformative future for individuals with incontinence on Earth. A collection cup could replace traditional diapers, reducing infections, but would also eliminate the discomfort of catheters. Once filtered and distilled, human liquid waste could then also be recycled to irrigate fields and nourish crops, creating a sustainable and efficient water cycle (which means that the content of millions of catheters we see lying under beds or hanging on the rails of beds in hospitals may be turned into money, View this photo).
Now, where does the literature / film and fashion connection with this story come from? It comes from the survival stillsuits in Frank Herbert's "Dune" saga and, more recently, from the films directed by Denis Villeneuve. In the harsh desert environment of the planet Arrakis, stillsuits are full-body outfits designed to preserve the body's sweat and waste. Made of multiple layers, these suits absorb moisture from sweat and urine, filter impurities, and circulate drinkable water to catchpockets. Waste is therefore converted into sustenance, and individuals can drink the reclaimed water from a tube attached to the neck.
Students, where do we come in? Well, the stillsuits in Dune may look cool, but the prototype pants for the system that should be used for the Artemis mission need some design tweaks. Indeed, even if they shouldn't be trendy or fashionable, the sample pants mentioned in the essay may need to be redesigned for greater comfort and visual appeal.
Where do we get our inspiration? Look to futurist extraordinaire Larry LeGaspi, a pioneer of the futuristic look of the '70s and early '80s. Rediscovered by Rick Owens, who paid homage to LeGaspi in his 2019 collection and in Owens' book published by Rizzoli in the same year, LeGaspi's costumes (like the silver one donned by Labelle's Nona Hendryx in 1975 currently in the collection of the National Museum of African American History & Culture, NMAAHC) and designs often featured trapunto stitching, forming ribbed surfaces reminiscent of astronauts' water-cooled garments (a detail that is also featured in some sections of the stillsuits designed by Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan for Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" films).
Think you'll never work at NASA or design suits for astronauts on the ISS? Think again. American costume designer and sculptor Jose Fernandez, who created suits for several superhero films, from Batman and Iron Man, to Captain America, and even prototypes for Dune's stillsuits, also designed the NASA pressure suits for astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurley on the Demo-2 mission – the crew flight test of SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
This proves that science is great, but so is the visionary imagination of a creative mind. Combining the two can lead to amazing results in space suit design - truly out-of-this-world creations.
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