July 16, 2008 -- Have a business meeting in Houston next week? Be a good American and drop by for quick pee break at 2200 Space Park near the Johnson Space Center. Yes, you read that right: NASA needs your urine.
The drive is to benefit NASA's fledgling Orion Program, which aims to put astronauts back on the moon by 2020. The pee drive is to help engineers working on designing the new spaceship's toilet.
Donations will be treated with a chemical that can hold solid particulates in the liquid so they don't clog up the tubing in microgravity, said Leo Makowski, company spokesman for Hamilton Sundstrand, a contractor designing the new spaceship's toilet.
"This is a preliminary test to see if this chemical is going to work the same way as it did on the [space] shuttle," Makowski told Discovery News.
It's difficult to come up with a faux urine, explained NASA's Jim Lewis, the systems manager overseeing development of Orion's potty. "That’s why we depend on collections."
First, a couple of ground rules:
*Pure urine samples only -- no blood -- to assure personnel safety, according to a memo to employees obtained by NASAWatch.
*Maximum contribution (per donation) -- 350 milliliters. "While this is not a regulation of our testing," notes the memo, "you are not encouraged to over-hydrate as this could dilute the urine we collect."
Hamilton Sundstrand is holding the drive, which begins on Monday and runs daily through the end of July -- including weekends -- until the coffers are full. Program goal: 30 liters a day. All bladder contributions are welcome.
"Unlike in the doctor’s office, you do not need to worry about starting collection midstream," the memo states. "Our testing will be much more accurate if you collect as much of the entire urination as possible including the beginning."
Urine drive organizers offer a few guidelines to help donors with the logistics. Among their tips: If at work, take a wide-mouthed beaker to the bathroom to collect your urine (beakers available from the first-floor lab), fill 'er up and deliver to the lab.
If you're peeing at home, put a lid on the beaker and slap on a label with the amount of your donation. ("Bottles with lids are not marked with volumetric measurements," explains the memo.)
Oh, and fresh samples only, please: No urine older than one hour can be put in the collection. "We suggest that morning urine be collected at home, but not night-time urine," the memo states.
Donations will be kept confidential -- sort of. "A donor number will be assigned to you so that we can keep track of donations without listing names," the memo said.
No advice, however, on how to make your contributions tax-deductible.
Related Links:
Irene Klotz's blog: Free Space
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