6 ms·
Warning: gross Of course, but the fundamental problem is that difficulties compound. It starts with: pooping is much harder when gravity isn't there to persist
by smallmancontrov 7mo ago
Warning: gross
Of course, but the fundamental problem is that difficulties compound. It starts with: pooping is much harder when gravity isn't there to persistently tug on the turd. Something that is slightly obnoxious on Earth (using a bag, using a suit flap) turns into an absolute trainwreck when you have a bag, a suit flap, and turd separation failure. Now you have to do precise mechanical manipulation of an object you don't want to touch behind your back through a bag and a suit flap, every failure multiplies the work, and now the turds can float away to multiply the work outside your immediate vicinity. Ditto for kneading the antibacterial into the poo: if you fail to do this thoroughly on Earth, bacterial offgassing causes the bag to vent, but in all likelihood that's the end of it because you can arrange for gravity to keep the poo away from the vent. In fact, you would probably do this without even thinking or imagining how it could go wrong. In zero gravity, you can't simply arrange "vent on top, poo on bottom", so the event is likely to launch aerosolized poo into your living environment where you have to put up with it for the next few days.
It's difficult to fully appreciate gravity until it's gone.
Astronauts are heroes for the risks they take, but they are also heroes for dealing with this.
- asdff 7mo agoSeems 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.
- smackeyacky 7mo agoPerhaps 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!
- riffraff 7mo agoIIRC from the book " packing for mars" the American man astronauts begged NASA to provide them with diapers at some point, which is what women astronauts got, because the earlier male-only system was a sort of sucking condom which was incredibly bad.
- darkwater 7mo agoThis really tells you how "bad masculinity" pervaded everything. I'm speaking of the designers here, not the astronauts. Why not a diaper also for male astronauts from the beginning? Isn't manly enough? Does it show weakness, like a toddler or an old dying man?
- riffraff 7mo agoI think the designers just didn't think of it. Women also started with a feminized version of the uncomfortable device and then switched to diapers, and then men followed. It's possible there were no women on the design team but I don't think it's a case of bad masculinity.
- darkwater 7mo agoI don't think that having or not having women in the design team is the key here. IMO it's more about how men perceive how men should be.
- raverbashing 7mo agoHonestly replacing gravity with negative air pressure might have been the ideal solution But I know that air is also a limited resource on space so it can't be solely an "airline-like system" (Also discarding it "outdoors" might be the best solution in the end)
- the_af 7mo agoSpace debris would have an additional meaning.
- alfiedotwtf 7mo agoI’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!
- XorNot 7mo agoI 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-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-23-me-542-st...
- scarier 7mo agoTo be fair they're pretty easy to use as long as you don't have to fly an airplane at the same time... [1] (NSFW lyrics!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd9_RffdmBA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd9_RffdmBA
- ozim 7mo agoF16 pilot on radio with airliner. Doing barrel roll, twist and speed up - radio to airliner „see buddy can you do that?” Airliner „wait a moment” - some time passes nothing happens - airliner „hey buddy you seen that?” - f16 „what? Nothing happened” - airliner „I went to toilet on the back, took dump, made myself a coffee and strolled back to cockpit”.
- the_af 7mo agoForget about pee, I always wondered about fighter pilots in one of those long, multi-hour flights, what happens if they really need to go number 2? I suppose they self-select as people without this kind of problems, but it can happen to anyone really. I suppose in an emergency they just shit their pants, but I wonder what the ground crew says when they touch down.
- scarier 7mo ago
- outworlder 7mo ago> 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.
- riffraff 7mo agoBut parents do that all the time with babies. It is disgusting (I hated doing it) but you get somewhat used to it relatively quickly.
- vidarh 7mo ago[dead]
- the_af 7mo agoWe seem to make a disconnect with our own children. I certainly did. But it doesn't extend to even other people's kids!
- itintheory 7mo ago> But it doesn't extend to even other people's kids! I think it's a question of exposure and tolerance, otherwise it'd be much harder for daycare workers, for instance.
- madaxe_again 7mo ago[dead]
- pbhjpbhj 7mo agoHaving 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!
- yoz-y 7mo agoDo they eat things that will 100% avoid liquid stool?
- asdff 7mo agoIf 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.
- Marha01 7mo ago> Seems like a big issue is I'm guessing insistence on having this be a solo operation for cultural reasons. Hmm... perhaps train a robot arm to do it?
- moduspol 7mo agoI'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.
- asdff 7mo agoShop 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.
- hammock 7mo ago> Seems like a big issue is I'm guessing insistence on having this be a solo operation for cultural reasons What cultures are you aware of that do pair programming for poopies?