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But the toilet stalemate did not end there. Another Crew Dragon capsule, which docked with four astronauts to the space station in April, has the same plumbing system as the Inspiration4 capsule. SpaceX engineers feared that the same “contamination” might have occurred on that spacecraft.
The engineers’ suspicions were correct.
Mr Gerstenmaier said NASA astronauts living on the station inserted a borescope device — a cable with a small camera at the end — under the capsule’s base and discovered traces of urine where it shouldn’t have been. “Yes, there was some sign of contamination under the floor,” he said.
This has raised new concerns. In space, urine is mixed with oxon, a potentially corrosive compound, to remove ammonia. Could the oxon urine sitting in the capsule for months have eroded any important hardware?
To answer this question, Mr. Gersteinmaier said SpaceX engineers on Earth collected aluminum parts similar to those on the spacecraft and created a urine sample mixed with oxon. They soaked the pieces and placed them inside a room that mimicked the humidity conditions on the space station, “for a long time,” Mr. Gerstenmaier said.
The irregular waste inside the Inspiration4 capsule was more bulky than the contamination found in the capsule attached to the space station, he said, because passengers used the capsule for three days, while astronauts launched into the space station typically stayed in orbit for about 24 hours. . The results of the ground tests look positive so far, “Fortunately or deliberately we chose an aluminum alloy that is very insensitive to corrosion,” he said.
This capsule is scheduled to leave the station in November and return home with the four astronauts it delivered in April. Ground tests with oxon and urine continue.
“We have a few more samples to take out of the chamber,” said Mr Gerstenmaier. He did not say who gave the samples.
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