How are environmental issues, such as the treatment of water and waste management, taken up on a spaceship or on the ISS?
A. The majority of ISS waste will be disposed of by means of destructive re-entry in the atmosphere. After having completed their resupply mission to the Station, Russian Progress vehicles and Japanese HTVs (and in the future European ATVs -Automated Transfer Vehicles) will be loaded with ISS waste and perform destructive re-entry into the atmosphere. Waste will in this fashion be burned with the vehicle itself. Toxic waste will be brought safely back to Earth by the Shuttle, and disposed of on the ground. Finally, a small portion of waste will be recycled, in particular water from condensation – which will be reused as drinkable water – and waste liquids that will be recycled as washing water. Of particular interest is that all ISS Partners, ESA in particular, are focussing on improving recycling technologies. An example of this is project Melissa – a multinational programme between Europe and Canada – which aims at recycling human and other waste using bacteria in a closed loop, eco-
