United Nations' First Satellite Will Study Use of Astronaut Excrement As a Fuel Source
UNESCOSat via Fast Company Befitting its mission to promote international cooperation and celebrate our shared world heritage, the United Nations is sending a $5 million satellite into space to find out whether poo can be used as fuel. UNESCOSat is intended to promote science education and cooperation, and it will carry several payloads, reports Fast Company. One of them will study Shewanella MR-1 bacteria to see if it can convert astronaut feces into hydrogen for use in fuel cells. NASA has been using hydrogen fuel cells since the Apollo program - astronauts actually drink the water produced by the space shuttles' fuel cells. But sources of hydrogen could be an issue on long-term space missions, so it would be handy to have a renewable supply. That's where bacteria come in. Donald Platt, program director for the Space Sciences and Space Systems program at the Florida Institute of Technology, explains that bacteria convert...