https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/items/ff1a240e-1fb1-4b04-acb2-42e9c45...
> The main sources of VMS were determined to be antiperspirants ... skin lotions ... wipes ... and hair conditioner. Several siloxanes-free options are available for [these products]. These products are now being assessed for crew member use in future increments.
From the blog:
> At present the agency is testing a new filtration system to put in front of the heat exchangers, to try to protect them, and continuing to try to cut down on siloxanes at the source level. There are probably people at NASA now whose entire career has been built on siloxane control.
Why wasn't the result to simply ban siloxane-containing cosmetics and wipes? The cosmetics are up to the individual astronaut, which is a little crazy, but the wipes are provided by NASA, and they're still using siloxane-bearing wipes, which shortens the life of their water systems and costs crazy amounts of money.
Just joking here, but reading between the lines it might not be such a bad idea? (if doable)
An example with a different contaminant: We can't seem to keep carcinogenic plasticizers out of our RXBars and our baby formula[1]. Those products are already way more regulated than something like wet wipes, and the companies that make them have a strong interest in keeping them free of contamination.
There is a good cautionary tale here from the Space Shuttle era. That vehicle
had heat resistant tiles that had to be attached to the aluminum belly of the
orbiter. A special cloth had been certified for wiping the aluminum clean
before applying the primer that securely bonded the tiles to the metal. After
years of uneventful use, tile engineers discovered that new replacement tiles
were no longer curing properly.
A careful investigation revealed that the supplier of that special cloth had
changed the lubricant used in the machine that sews its hem. Minute amounts
of the lubricant were being deposited on the stitching, and enough of that
residue was getting on the aluminum skin to prevent the tile adhesive from
curing properly.“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”
Intended as a warning against command economies and centralized structures more generally, because the information-processing requirements are much larger than one might expect. But of course there are few things more central-planning than a space programme.
Is that a record for the biggest piss bottle ever made?
With the qualification 'in orbit', I imagine it is.
Animal population studies used to be (in my understanding) largely observational. Now, people can do scat tests and identify individuals.
Something like that during a covid like moment would suck donkey rocks.
If there was any "we don't even know if this is an emergency" surprise interaction along these lines, a 3-day emergency resupply mission (or evacuation) is much, much easier than a 6-9 month trip when the planets align.
I wonder if they track PFAS/PFOS contamination also?