NASA's Top Tips

Learning from NASA on how to live more sustainably.

17:36 22 April 2016

Missions to bring fresh supplies to the outer space are extremely time-consuming and expensive.

 

Cady Coleman, a current NASA astronaut said: "We basically have a limited environment in space, and it causes us to think about how we get stuff there, how we maintain it, and how we get most use out of it."

 

With astronauts set to go on a mission to Mars on 2030, NASA has to find clever ways to provide for their daily needs in even more challenging conditions. However, NASA’s current efforts on sustainability is already teaching us how to live on Earth while maximising our resources.

 

·       Growing food – NASA’s decades of research has found ways on how to grow vegetables in space, which saw the astronauts harvesting and eating lettuces aboard the International Space Station (ISS) last year.

 

·       Clean water – NASA filters waste water on the ISS using chemical and distillation processes that turn liquid from sweat, air, and even urine into drinkable water. 

 

·       Recycling tools – Instead of sending new batches of tools whenever situations call for it, NASA chooses to recycle. Ms Coleman said that "down here, we can pretty much all go to the hardware store to buy tools - but our situation in space drives us to be more resourceful and to renew, reuse or recycle tools."

 

·       Green buildings – NASA’s energy-saving technologies paved the way for the construction of a green building on its campus in Moffett Field, California. Among its features are its ability to generate electricity and a system that reuses wastewater to flush toilets.