An end in sight to dirty underwear woes in space

The resulting methane gas given off by the disposal unit could then be used to power the spacecraft, the scientists told the magazine.

“This will be a revolution in the science of biodegradation,” Vyacheslav Ilyin, head of the microbial ecology laboratory at the Russian state research center’s Institute for Biological and Medical Problems, told the magazine.

Ilyin could not immediately be reached for comment last night.

Onboard washing machines are not exactly a priority, and in the United States, astronauts are rationed to a gallon and a half of water a day for a shower. Underwear is changed daily onUS shuttle missions and every three days on space station missions, NASA said. “Cosmonauts identify waste as one of the most acute problems they encounter in space,” Ilyin was quoted as saying.

The search for the most suitable combination of microbes is expected to take up to a decade, new scientist said. Researchers aim to have the device ready by 2017, when Russia hopes to launch its first crewed interplanetary mission.

Aboard Mir, the Russian space station, waste is stored in sealed containers until a module arrives with fresh supplies. The waste is then transferred to the module to be burned up when the spacecraft re-enters the earth’s atmosphere, the magazine said.

But the modules only call about twice a year, the magazine said.