Process converts human waste into rocket fuel: Buck Rogers surely couldn't have seen this one coming, but at NASA's request, University of Florida researchers have figured out how to turn human waste -- yes, that kind -- into rocket fuel.
Adolescent jokes aside, the process finally makes useful something that until now has been collected to burn up on re-entry. What's more, like so many other things developed for the space program, the process could well turn up on Earth, said Pratap Pullammanappallil, a UF associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering.
"It could be used on campus or around town, or anywhere, to convert waste into fuel," Pullammanappallil said.
In 2006, NASA began making plans to build an inhabited facility on the moon's surface between 2019 and 2024. As part of NASA's moon-base goal, the agency wanted to reduce the weight of spacecraft leaving Earth. Historically, waste generated during spaceflight would not be used further.
NASA stores it in containers until it's loaded into space cargo vehicles that burn as they pass back through the Earth's atmosphere. For future long-term missions, though, it would be impractical to bring all the stored waste back to Earth.
Dumping it on the moon's surface is not an option, so the space agency entered into an agreement with UF to develop test ideas.
