"Space Toilets: How Astronauts Manage Bathroom Needs in Zero Gravity "
Whether it's a basic hole or a luxurious gold-plated toilet, gravity on Earth ensures our waste is pulled away from us. But for astronauts, using the bathroom is trickier. In space, where there's no gravity, any floating waste can be a problem. This is a health risk for the astronauts and a threat to the important machinery inside the space station.
In space or on the International Space Station, using the bathroom requires caution and the use of suction.
In 1961, Alan Shepard was the first American to go to space. His journey was meant to be brief, so there were no arrangements for him to use the bathroom. However, after he got into the rocket, the launch got delayed for more than three hours. Shepard needed to pee and asked to leave the rocket for that. But to avoid further delays, mission control decided it was okay for him to pee in his spacesuit. So, the first American in space traveled with a wet undergarment.
Luckily, there's now a toilet on the space station. The first one, made in 2000, was mainly for men and not easy for women. It required peeing standing up. For pooping, astronauts had to strap their thighs to sit on the small toilet and make sure their bottom was sealed tight to the seat. This toilet didn't work too well and was tough to clean.
In 2018, NASA spent $23 million on a better toilet for astronauts on the International Space Station. This new toilet uses a vacuum to deal with the challenges of going to the bathroom in zero gravity. It has two parts: a hose with a funnel for peeing and a small, raised seat for pooping.
The space bathroom has lots of places to hold onto so astronauts don't float away while using it. For peeing, they can either sit or stand. They need to use the funnel and hose carefully against their skin to prevent leaks.
To poop, astronauts raise the toilet lid and sit down, similar to toilets on Earth. However, this space toilet starts sucking in air as soon as the lid opens. This helps keep everything from floating away and also helps with the smell.To make sure it fits tightly against their bottom, the toilet seat in space is smaller than the ones we use at home.
Pee is mostly water, and because water is heavy and takes a lot of space, it's better to recycle pee instead of bringing fresh water from Earth. All the pee from astronauts is collected and purified into clean water for drinking. Astronauts often joke that the coffee they drink today is made from yesterday's coffee.
Sometimes, scientists bring astronaut poop back to Earth to study it. However, usually, bathroom waste, like poop, is burned up. The poop is sucked into trash bags, which are then sealed in airtight containers.Astronauts also add toilet paper, wipes, and gloves to the containers for cleanliness. These containers are then placed in a cargo ships that came to the space station. This ship is sent back towards Earth, where it burns up in the Earth's upper atmosphere.
When you see a shooting star, it could be a meteorite burning in the Earth's atmosphere, or it might even be astronaut poop on fire. Also, remember to be grateful for gravity's assistance next time you need to use the bathroom.
(The author of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru. He is also Director of ADD Engineering Components, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. You can reach out to him at: girishlinganna@gmail.com)
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Rishabh Pant's troubles continue as Punjab Kings push LSG towards exit door
Dharamsala, May 4 (PTI): Rishabh Pant lost the grip on his bat and the match simultaneously as Punjab Kings rode on heroics from the two 'Singhs' -- Prabhsimran and Arshdeep -- to literally push Lucknow Super Giants to the brink of elimination with a 37-run win in an IPL match here on Sunday.
It was Prabhsimran's 48-ball 91 that formed the cornerstone of Punjab Kings' unassailable 236 for 5 and any hopes of a remarkable chase was nipped in the bud by Arshdeep's (3/16 in 4 overs) now familiar Powerplay spell which summarily destroyed the opposition top-order.
This time, he got the three top run getters -- Mitchell Marsh (0), Aiden Markram (13) and the ever-dangerous Nicholas Pooran (6) -- to swing the match decisively in Punjab's favour. Ayush Badoni's (74 off 40 balls) effort was a good one albeit it came for a losing cause.
LSG were finally restricted to 199 for 7 in 20 overs and even if they win their last three games and get to 16 points from 14 games, their net run-rate can make things difficult for them.
Punjab Kings are now placed second with 15 points from 11 games and one more win could possibly clinch a place in top four for them.
But what is becoming an eyesore is LSG's Rs 27 crore worth skipper Pant's inexplicable approach which has fetched him a dismal 128 runs in 11 innings at a sub-100 strike-rate (99.22).
On the day, he scored 18 off 17 balls and that he is completely out of sync was evident in the manner he tried to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at an Azmatullah Omarzai delivery. There was no control in his shot as the bat took off on parabolic curve towards square leg and the ball went towards deep point.
Pant's misery was a testimony of LSG's wretched campaign that was lost at the auction table when the owner decided to go with a sub-standard bowling attack based on a half-fit talented pacer Mayank Yadav.
Mayank has already lost at least 10-15 yards of pace post rehabilitation under the watch of Nitin Patel at the National Cricket Academy.
On Sunday, he went for 60 runs off four overs with half a dozen of sixes struck off his bowling.
The pint-sized Prabhsimran packed a mean punch in his strokes as he blasted his way to a 48-ball 91 with the help of six fours and seven sixes.
The Punjab keeper-batter should have got his second IPL hundred but an ambitious switch hit off Digvesh Rathi saw him head back to the pavilion, nine runs short of what would have been a deserving milestone.
Towards the end, Shashank Singh scored 33 off 15 balls to take PBKS to what looked like an unassailable total. There were 16 sixes hit by Pujab Kings with 13 coming off pacers.
Prabhsimran was initially a passive partner as it was Australian Jos Inglis who launched the first attack with a hat-trick of sixes off Mayank Yadav, whose speed has decreased by at least 15 kmph post his intense rehab under Nitin Patel at the BCCI's erstwhile National Cricket Academy to recover from back injury.
However, once Inglis was dismissed, Prabhsimran, along with skipper Shreyas Iyer (45 off 25 balls), took control of the game. They were only helped by some atrocious fielding from Avesh Khan, who would probably go down as the worst fielder in the 18-year history of IPL.
Adding insult to injury, Prabhsimran took the tall MP fast bowler to the cleaners as he was pulled over mid-wicket for back-to-back maximums. Khan went for 57 in four overs and if around 15 runs due to his misfielding is added, he caused the maximum damage for his team.
The duo of Prabhsimran and Iyer added 78 runs in 7.5 overs before Rathi, LSG's best bowler on view, became the first spinner in the current season to account for Punjab Kings skipper's wicket.
But Prabhsimran continued like a man possessed and LSG bowlers were guilty of feeding to his strengths throughout the innings.
