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Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#151

Post by asdff »

moduspol wrote: post #129
asdff wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a big issue is I'm guessing insistence on having this be a solo operation for cultural reasons. Seems like it would be easy with two astronauts. Have the one bend over and spread the cheeks wide with both hands, the other basically does the hand in the dog poop bag trick right as the poop is coming out and wipes them up after. No worse than what a nurse does every day for work.

I'm thinking more like Player 2 just operates a shop vac and aims the nozzle at the appropriate area. Though I guess if that would work, they'd just use those loud suction toilets they use on airplanes.

Shop vac tube would be gross fast and need regular maintenance. Dog poop bag is entirely disposable. Throw it behind the spacecraft and use it as propulsion.

Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#152

Post by asdff »

outworlder wrote: post #83
asdff wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a big issue is I'm guessing insistence on having this be a solo operation for cultural reasons. Seems like it would be easy with two astronauts. Have the one bend over and spread the cheeks wide with both hands, the other basically does the hand in the dog poop bag trick right as the poop is coming out and wipes them up after. No worse than what a nurse does every day for work.

> Seems like a big issue is I'm guessing insistence on having this be a solo operation for cultural reasons. I had to do some stool collection and it took every ounce of willpower and a N95 mask to prevent me from vomiting everywhere. And that was my poop. I think it's more than cultural, there's a strong visceral reaction. On the other hand, I can pickup my dog's poop no problem. Nurses are heroes.

Take a couple proper cowpies over the waterline and you will get over that fast.

Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#153

Post by asdff »

mikkupikku wrote: post #127
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having an repulsion for shit is a healthy adaptation. But it seems that for some people they're much more sensitive. Similarly, it's probably useful for a primitive person to vomit on sight of a familiar person vomiting, collective protection. Definitely a trait to find out before going to space!

The one I've never got is how so many people faint or become I'll when they see blood. Always seemed like a massive maladaptive that should create even more risk in a presumably dangerous situation. If a tiger attacks me in the night and the guy next to me faints because I'm getting eaten, we'll both end up dying.

Rival tribe comes and kills Lug and Glug. You faint at seeing the bloodshed. They assume you died. They leave. You live and pass on your fainting genes.

Alternatively it could just be an overshoot of the behavior to recognize that you bleeding is a dangerous situation. These behaviors probably follow some gaussian distribution in their potential "effect" among the population and fainters are on a long tail of that distribution.

Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#154

Post by [deleted] »

smackeyacky wrote: post #65
asdff wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a big issue is I'm guessing insistence on having this be a solo operation for cultural reasons. Seems like it would be easy with two astronauts. Have the one bend over and spread the cheeks wide with both hands, the other basically does the hand in the dog poop bag trick right as the poop is coming out and wipes them up after. No worse than what a nurse does every day for work.

Perhaps nurses would be a better pool of astronaut candidates than test pilots. I remember seeing a Russian space toilet when they had it set up in the powerhouse museum in Sydney. It looked like a booth with a vaguely pubic area shaped vacuum attachment designed to be unisex. I stared at it for some time trying to work out how it worked. The Apollo system seems horrendous!

[deleted]

Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#155

Post by asdff »

XorNot wrote: post #69
alfiedotwtf wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut, but yeah… pass. Weird a silicon-like pants that strapped up so there was no leaks (like fisherman’s pants), that has a vacuum you attach (almost catheter style) isn’t used. Actually now that I think about it, it’s weird that astronauts aren’t using catheters 24/7!

I mean this has also been a problem for fighter pilots as well. The "piddle packs" for F-16 pilots are implicared at least one crash due to the complexity of using them. [1] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-23-me-542-st...

Surprised they don't just let them piss on the seat like the bike leg in triathlon

Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#157

Post by asdff »

yoz-y wrote: post #92
asdff wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a big issue is I'm guessing insistence on having this be a solo operation for cultural reasons. Seems like it would be easy with two astronauts. Have the one bend over and spread the cheeks wide with both hands, the other basically does the hand in the dog poop bag trick right as the poop is coming out and wipes them up after. No worse than what a nurse does every day for work.

Do they eat things that will 100% avoid liquid stool?

If it was liquid it would probably blow straight into the bag. In my experience there is quite a big of propulsion there. Enough to overcome gravity here on earth at least and spray dead horizontal.

Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#158

Post by czbond »

trhway wrote: post #20
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #3

This is one of those stupid, unglamorous works that legitimately facilitates long-term space exploration ambitions in a way just focusing on the sexy bits, e.g. propulsion.

a good attempt at popularization of the issue in Big Bang Theory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrX3EmdKtRc

Haha - I was going to add "so it's a shelf"?

Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#159

Post by kodablah »

golem14 wrote: post #98
detourdog wrote: post #21

One of the good laughs I had watching 2001 was Haywood reading the instructions for the toilet. The joke being we have evolved to the point that our most basic human functions has become complex. https://sites.google.com/site/theageofplastic3d/2001s-zero-g...

Cool article, nice sleuthing. Could be straight out of the “Typeset in the Future” book!

It is also in that book, page 36/37, with transcription and minor note on issues with ISS toilets in 2008.

Re: Artemis II's toilet is a moon mission milestone

#160

Post by the_af »

WalterBright wrote: post #148
scarier wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly this isn't something people select for at all--by the time you've made it through that many rounds of selection you aren't going to let GI issues keep you from the finish. I've heard of some creative solutions to the problem involving safing the ejection seat and getting out of your gear, but I don't really believe any of them. If you think it's a significant risk, you basically have two options: talk to the…

I suppose you could avoid eating hours before a mission, and not eat gassy foods.

I wonder if hunger can affect your focus and reflexes though.
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