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Astronauts May Soon Be Able to Recycle Urine into Water Using Dune-Inspired Stillsuits

dall e 2024 07 15 13.30.23 a fremen from dune wearing a stillsuit. the stillsuit is a full body form fitting garment with a desert camouflage pattern designed to conserve and

If historical past has taught us one factor, it’s that science fiction usually provides strategy to science truth. Take into account the Star Trek communicator and the rise of flip telephones within the late Nineties and early 2000s, or how 2001: A House Odyssey predicted orbiting area stations and reusable area planes – just like the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle. And who can overlook Jules Verne’s basic, From the Earth to the Moon, and the way it anticipated that people would sooner or later stroll on the Moon? Virtually a century later, this dream can be realized with the Apollo Program.

The newest comes from Cornell College, the place a workforce of researchers has developed a novel in-suit urine collection and filtration system impressed by the fits the Fremen wore in Frank Herbert’s Dune. As soon as built-in into NASA’s customary spacesuit—the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU)—this method has the potential to offer astronauts with extra water whereas lowering the danger of hygiene-related medical occasions. In brief, the stillsuit know-how has the potential to allow longer-duration missions on the floor of the Moon, Mars, and orbit.

The analysis workforce was led by pupil researchers Sofia Etlin, Luca Bielski, and Julianna Rose, specialists in area drugs, ornithology, and plant science at Cornell College. They have been joined by a number of colleagues from the Division of Biology and the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Cornell College. Their paper that described their system appeared on July eleventh in Frontiers in Space Technologies. As they point out of their research, astronauts have been conducting extravehicular actions (EVAs) aboard the ISS utilizing the identical spacesuits as their Apollo predecessors.

np 2020 04 010 jsc emu parts 10.5x14.5 final 5 28 20 — *The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). Credit score: NASA*

These fits embody a disposable diaper, the Maximum Absorbency Garment (MAG), which collects urine and feces throughout EVAs lasting as much as 8 hours. In keeping with a report by the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO), astronauts are anticipated to have seven urination and two defecation occasions day by day, however the frequency varies throughout spacewalks. Primarily based on the 37 EVAs performed aboard the ISS between 2021 and 2023, NASA recorded a median spacewalk period of 6 hours and 26 minutes, whereas the longest lasted 8 hours and 56 minutes.

Publicity to waste for prolonged intervals results in hygiene issues that would become urinary tract infections (UTIs) and gastrointestinal misery. As well as, the present EMU comes with a 0.95 liter (0.25 gallon) In-suit Drink Bag (IDB). In keeping with NASA guidelines, this quantity is roughly 25% to 35% of what an astronaut must eat day by day – 3.7 liters (1 gallon) for males and a pair of.7 liters (0.71 gallons) for girls. On condition that missions on the lunar floor and Mars are anticipated to ivolve long-duration EVAs, neither of those techniques is adequate for NASA’s Moon to Mars mission structure. As Etlin instructed Universe At the moment through e mail:

The following-generation spacesuits, often called the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), have been designed to replicate the not too long ago up to date Extravehicular Exercise (EVA) hydration guideline of roughly 240 mL (~8 oz) per hour – successfully rising the go well with’s water provide to 2 liters (0.5 gallons). However as Etlin instructed Universe At the moment through e mail, these designs nonetheless fall quick within the hygiene division. “Within the new technology of spacesuits, that are at present being produced by the corporate Axiom House, the system that offers with urine is being left because it was within the authentic fits from the 70s,” she mentioned.

To handle this, the workforce developed a novel in-suit urine assortment and filtration system that addresses each considerations. Not solely will it be certain that astronauts have a reserve provide of water that’s replenished as they conduct long-duration EVAs. It additionally addresses the problem of well being and hygiene by stopping the astronauts from remaining in touch with their urine. As Etlin defined, the inspiration got here from the Fremen stillsuits featured in Frank Herbert’s Dune, which she learn as an undergrad in 2022:

Screenshot 2024 07 13 at 14 30 11 Frontiers Enhanced astronaut hygiene and mission efficiency a novel approach to in suit waste management and water recovery in spacewalks — The prototype “stillsuit” that may very well be built-in into future spacesuits. Credit score: Etlin, S. et al. (2024)

Nevertheless, as a substitute of constructing a full-body go well with to accommodate this new system, the workforce designed a module targeted particularly on urine assortment and filtration that may match into present spacesuits. In time, a multidisciplinary workforce that included Mason, Bielski, and Rose was assembled, and from this, their stillsuit know-how was born! As Elfin defined, the brand new system consists of two parts: the Urine Assortment Gadget (UCD) and the Urine Filtration System (UFS):

“The primary a part of our design would substitute the diaper, or MAG, that the astronauts at present put on with a garment that sucks urine away from the physique when the astronaut begins to urinate. The important thing operate of that is to keep away from extreme publicity to urine, which causes among the hygiene points we define within the paper. Subsequent, the urine goes by a two-stage filtration system that makes use of ahead osmosis coupled with reverse osmosis to supply pure water whereas minimizing power use, which is one other massive concern in spacesuits. This clear water is then brough to the in-suit drink bag to be consumed.”

The urine assortment garment maintains a diaper-like portion for feces, which Elfin and her colleagues hope to handle sooner or later. The entire equipment is meant to be positioned in a pouch weighing about 8 kg (17.6 lbs) and measuring 38 x 23 x 23 cm (15 x 9 x 9 inches). This pouch may very well be mounted on the again of the AxEMU together with the go well with’s transportable life help system (aka the backpack), which offers air, heating and cooling, meals, and water. The workforce emphasizes that the slight enhance in weight and bulk will likely be offset by the elevated consolation and useful resource effectivity offered by the system.

This technique and its successors may turn into an everyday characteristic in spacesuits worn by Artemis astronauts as they discover the lunar floor. The flexibility to stay wholesome, hydrated, and cozy for longer intervals will be certain that NASA and its worldwide and business companions can construct the mandatory infrastructure to permit for a “sustained program of lunar exploration and growth.” Stated Elfin:

xemu eva hls — *Artist’s illustration of the brand new spacesuit NASA and Axiom are designing for Artemis astronauts. It’s known as the xEMU, or Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit. Credit score: NASA*

“Spacewalks are going to turn into longer, extra frequent, and extra bodily demanding once we return to the Moon and within the many years following as we try to determine a extra everlasting presence there. After wanting on the present spacesuit designs, we predict they might be inadequate to maintain the astronauts wholesome and acting at a excessive stage by these rising challenges. The elevated water obtainable to astronauts would make them extra productive and reduce the dangers of any well being issues through the spacewalk itself, whereas the urine assortment part of our system would higher protect their well being and morale in the long run.”

Additional Studying: Frontiers in Space Technology

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Louisiana puts man to death in state’s first nitrogen gas execution

Louisiana used nitrogen gas to place Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, to loss of life Tuesday night within the state’s first execution in 15 years. Nitrogen fuel has been used simply 4 different instances to execute an individual in the US — all in Alabama, the one different state with a protocol for the tactic.

“It’s unlucky that unhealthy folks exist, and so they do actual unhealthy issues. When these acts of violence occur, society should not tolerate it,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry stated in a press release following the execution, including, “Should you commit heinous acts of violence on this State, it is going to value you your life. Plain and easy.

Hoffman declined to provide a closing assertion earlier than the fuel started flowing and he subsequently was pronounced useless at 6:50 p.m. on the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Authorities stated the nitrogen fuel flowed for 19 minutes throughout what one official referred to as a “flawless” execution, though one witness spoke of the inmate convulsing in the course of the course of.

Hoffman’s attorneys had sought to halt the execution, saying in a collection of courtroom filings main as much as his loss of life the tactic is unconstitutional, violating the Eighth Modification’s prohibition on merciless and strange punishment. Additionally they stated it infringes on Hoffman’s freedom to apply faith, particularly his Buddhist respiratory and meditation within the moments main as much as his loss of life.

Louisiana officers keep that the tactic is painless and say it’s previous time for the state to ship justice promised to victims’ households after a decade-and-a-half hiatus. Legal professional Basic Liz Murrill says that she expects not less than 4 folks on Louisiana’s loss of life row to be executed this 12 months.

On Monday, Hoffman’s attorneys filed a slew of extra challenges in state and federal courts as a last-ditch effort to cease the execution. The nineteenth Judicial District Court docket Decide Richard “Chip” Moore thought of one of many challenges at a listening to Tuesday morning, which concerned the query of whether or not the execution as deliberate violated Hoffman’s non secular freedom below the Preservation of Non secular Freedom Act. However the state choose in Baton Rouge in the end declined to the halt the approaching process, CBS Information affiliate WAFB reported.

The choose on Monday had issued a brief restraining order — stopping the state from executing Hoffman — pending the Tuesday morning listening to. The restraining order was to run out at 9:30 a.m., with the execution scheduled to happen hours in a while Tuesday night.

After courtroom battles earlier this month, a federal choose temporarily halted Hoffman’s execution by nitrogen fuel final week, issuing a preliminary injunction to cease the state from instantly finishing up his loss of life sentence. An appeals courtroom rapidly reversed that injunction, and within the wake of Tuesday’s listening to, Hoffman’s attorneys had only one closing enchantment out to the US Supreme Court docket to halt the execution. The U.S. Supreme Court docket rejected that effort on Tuesday, declining to intervene by a 5-4 vote, The Related Press reported.

Hoffman was convicted of the 1996 homicide of Mary “Molly” Elliott, a 28-year-old promoting government, in New Orleans.

Underneath the Louisiana protocol, which is sort of similar to Alabama’s, officers had earlier stated Hoffman could be strapped to a gurney earlier than a full-face respirator masks fitted tightly on him. Pure nitrogen fuel was then pumped into the masks, forcing him to breathe it in and depriving him of the oxygen wanted to keep up bodily capabilities.

The protocol referred to as for the fuel to be administered for not less than quarter-hour or 5 minutes after the inmate’s coronary heart price reaches a flatline indication on the EKG, whichever is longer.

Every inmate put to loss of life utilizing nitrogen in Alabama had appeared to shake and gasp to various levels throughout their executions, in response to media witnesses, together with an Related Press reporter. The reactions are involuntary actions related to oxygen deprivation, state officers have stated.

At the moment, 4 states — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma — particularly authorize execution by nitrogen hypoxia, in response to data compiled by the Loss of life Penalty Data Middle.

Alabama first used the deadly fuel to place Kenneth Eugene Smith to loss of life final 12 months, marking the primary time a brand new technique had been used within the U.S. since deadly injection was launched in 1982.

In an effort to renew executions, Louisiana’s GOP-dominated Legislature expanded the state’s permitted loss of life penalty strategies final 12 months to incorporate nitrogen hypoxia and electrocution. Deadly injection was already in place.

On Tuesday afternoon, a small group of execution opponents held a vigil exterior the agricultural southeast Louisiana jail at Angola, the place the state’s executions are carried out. Some handed out prayer playing cards with photographs of a smiling Hoffman and deliberate a Buddhist studying and “Meditation for Peace.

Over latest a long time, the variety of executions nationally has declined sharply amid authorized battles, a scarcity of deadly injection medication and waning public help for capital punishment. That has led a majority of states to both abolish or pause finishing up the loss of life penalty.

Hoffman was the seventh individual executed within the U.S. in 2025.

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O.C. sheriff’s deputy is stabbed; suspect at large

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Officers are looked for a transient man suspected of stabbing an Orange County sheriff’s deputy whereas she was conducting routine homeless outreach in San Clemente on Tuesday afternoon.

The incident happened round 2:15 p.m. close to the 1700 block of Avenida Estacion, in accordance with the Sheriff’s Division. The deputy suffered a non-life-threatening 1-inch laceration to her neck, was transported to a hospital and later launched, division spokesperson Matthew Parrish stated.

“All of our deputies are skilled within the totally different assets obtainable to homeless individuals,” Parrish stated. “When they’re on the market doing their patrols, we encourage them to speak to homeless individuals, see if they’re conscious of those companies and if they’re able to join them to assist.”

The division is in search of the general public’s assist in discovering the suspect, who’s described as a white man in his mid-30s with brown hair, blue eyes and a beard, about 5 toes 10 inches tall and weighing 160 kilos. He’s a identified transient within the space and was final seen carrying a black jacket and darkish pants and operating towards the storm drain close to Avenida Pico and El Camino Actual, in accordance with the division.

“If you happen to see the suspect, don’t strategy him and name 9-1-1,” the division stated in a post on X. “Thanks to the group in your help and persistence throughout this incident.”

Two close by colleges, San Clemente Excessive and Las Palmas Elementary, briefly sheltered in place whereas deputies responded to the incident, and members of the general public had been warned to keep away from the realm.

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Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kills Over 400, in Breakdown of Cease-Fire

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Israeli forces launched lethal aerial assaults throughout the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, ending a brief cease-fire with Hamas that started in January, and elevating the prospect of a return to all-out struggle.

Greater than 400 individuals, together with kids, had been killed within the strikes, Gaza’s well being ministry stated. These numbers didn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants — however the relentless Israeli bombardment produced one of many struggle’s deadliest single-day tolls.

The assaults got here after weeks of fruitless negotiations geared toward extending the delicate cease-fire, which paused 15 months of devastating combating within the territory. The truce’s first part expired in early March, nevertheless it had largely held as diplomats labored to dealer an extension to free the surviving Israeli hostages and finish the struggle.

The workplace of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, stated he had ordered the army operation after Hamas’s “repeated refusal” to launch the remaining captives seized within the Oct. 7, 2023 assault on Israel and the our bodies of these hostages who’ve died. Of the 59 remaining in Gaza, fewer than half are believed to be alive.

“To any extent further, Israel will act in opposition to Hamas with rising army power,” the prime minister’s workplace stated.

In an deal with in a while Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu urged that extra Israeli assaults in Gaza had been coming and can be carried out in tandem with negotiations with Hamas.

“That is just the start,” he stated. “We’ll preserve combating to realize all the struggle’s targets.”

Hamas officers argued that Israel had openly overturned the truce, however didn’t instantly reply militarily to the strikes. It was unclear whether or not the Palestinian armed group — badly weakened after greater than a yr of struggle — would strike again or head to the negotiating desk.

Suhail al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s political workplace, stated the group nonetheless hoped to revive the cease-fire however reserved the fitting to reply. “Tips on how to reply is left to these on the bottom,” he stated in a telephone interview. “They know and perceive how to answer the occupation.”

Gideon Saar, Israel’s overseas minister, stated the choice to strike had been made a number of days in the past, after Hamas rejected two proposals provided by Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Center East envoy.

“This isn’t a one-day operation,” Mr. Saar stated in a speech on Tuesday in Jerusalem. “We’ll pursue army motion within the days to come back. We discovered ourselves in a lifeless finish, with no hostages launched and no army motion. This example can not proceed.”

In Israel, family of the hostages stated the renewed Israeli assaults had heightened their fears that the remaining captives may by no means return alive. They accused Mr. Netanyahu and his authorities of abandoning the hostages, and a few gathered in rallies demanding a right away take care of Hamas to safe their freedom.

“Army motion endangers hostages’ lives and immediately harms them,” Alexander Troufanov, a hostage freed throughout the current truce, advised a crowd in Tel Aviv. “However this morning, I used to be horrified to seek out that call makers select to not hear.”

The hostages in Gaza “are going via hell due to the choice to return to combating,” he added.

The Trump administration — which has been in search of to dealer a deal between Israel and Hamas — appeared to again Israel’s determination to renew wide-scale assaults in Gaza. Karoline Leavitt, the White Home’s press secretary, stated Israel had consulted with america earlier than launching its assault.

Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the Nationwide Safety Council in Washington, blamed Hamas for Israel’s renewed assaults, saying in an announcement on Tuesday that “Hamas may have launched hostages to increase the cease-fire however as a substitute selected refusal and struggle.”

The Israeli airstrikes in Gaza started barely earlier than 2:30 a.m. native time. Their ferocity recalled the struggle’s earliest days, when Israel launched heavy assaults within the enclave. Photos from the territory confirmed individuals utilizing flashlights to look via the rubble of flattened buildings, our bodies lined up in baggage and distraught households fleeing with their belongings packed on vans.

Ramez Souri, a resident of Gaza Metropolis, within the north of the enclave, stated he had woke up to the sound of explosions, adopted by the push of ambulances.

“All of Gaza shook,” Mr. Souri stated.

Greater than 48,000 Gazans have been killed for the reason that starting of the struggle, in line with the Gaza well being ministry, and tens of millions have been displaced.

Many Gazans had returned to their devastated neighborhoods throughout the cease-fire, stated Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Protection. They had been sheltering collectively within the few properties that remained standing, he stated.

“There are complete households that had been buried underneath the rubble,” Mr. Basal stated.

UNICEF stated that amongst these killed had been 130 kids, the biggest single-day little one demise toll previously yr in Gaza. The airstrikes hit shelters the place they had been sleeping with their households, UNICEF stated.

Suzanne Abu Daqqa, who lives in Abasan, a southern suburb of Khan Younis, described a sudden wave of explosions in the midst of the night time. She stated she rushed to examine the information, as did her household.

“Then we noticed it wasn’t simply in our neighborhood — it was throughout Gaza,” Ms. Abu Daqqa stated.

Among the bombs hit Abasan, she stated. On Tuesday morning, the Israeli army referred to as on residents of the realm to evacuate, calling it a “harmful fight zone.”

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a spokesman for the Israeli army, stated the bombing had focused “Hamas army commanders, officers in Hamas’s management and terrorist infrastructure.”

Hamas stated that two of the group’s senior officers killed had been members of its political bureau. Others held senior safety roles, together with one who was the director of Hamas’s feared inside safety company. One other militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, additionally stated the spokesman for its army wing had been killed.

Earlier than the airstrikes started, Israel and Hamas had been making an attempt to achieve an settlement on the second part of the truce. In the course of the first part, Hamas launched greater than 30 hostages, and the stays of eight others, in trade for greater than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

In the course of the second part, Israeli forces had been to completely withdraw from Gaza and Hamas was to launch the surviving hostages seized throughout the assault on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 individuals in Israel, kidnapped 251 others and ignited the combating.

The 2 sides haven’t been ready agree on the second part of the cease-fire. Israel remains to be vowing to destroy Hamas and is insisting on the demilitarization of Gaza. Hamas has largely refused to disband its armed battalions.

Critics of Mr. Netanyahu have argued that the prime minister has prevented a viable settlement with Hamas to finish the struggle and free extra hostages with a view to protect his political coalition, which incorporates far-right supporters of long-term Israeli rule in Gaza.

On Tuesday, Itamar Ben-Gvir introduced that his far-right Jewish Energy social gathering would rejoin Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities to assist the renewed offensive. In January, Mr. Ben-Gvir left in protest of the cease-fire with Hamas. As soon as authorized, his social gathering’s lawmakers would bolster Mr. Netanyahu’s skinny majority in Parliament.

Daniel B. Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, stated on Tuesday: “Hamas’s insistence on holding on to hostages as leverage, and Netanyahu’s politically pushed refusal to proceed with Section 2 of the cease-fire, which referred to as for an finish to the struggle and the discharge of all residing hostages, led to this escalation.”

Israel has killed 1000’s of Hamas’s fighters and destroyed a lot of its tunnel community, which had been used, amongst different issues, to retailer weapons. Hamas’s potential to fireplace rockets at Israel has additionally been undermined.

Mr. Saar, the Israeli overseas minister, urged that Israel would return to the negotiating desk if Hamas made main concessions over Gaza’s future.

“If we may obtain the identical targets otherwise, advantageous,” he stated. “But when it’s unimaginable to advance that method, you resume army operations.”

Hamas officers have vowed that will not occur. “Battle and destruction is not going to carry the enemy what they did not get via negotiations,” Izzat al-Rishq, a Hamas official, stated.

Reporting was contributed by Adam Rasgon, Ephrat Livni, Eric Schmitt, Julian E. Barnes, Hiba Yazbek and Johnatan Reiss.