Thorstenson, Yvonne R.

NASA NTRS1987

Medical effects of iodine disinfection products in spacecraft water

Various iodination products (IDPs), including iodinated and iodine-induced new compounds, will be present in the iodine-disinfected water that is expected to be used by crews on the NASA Space Station and on long duration missions. The metabolic intermediaries created by such a process may be more important to crew health than the parent IDPs, and reclamation and recycling may be expected to produce additional products. These medical effects may be expressed in crews as hypersensitivity, allergic, acute toxic, and chronic toxic reactions, as well as modifications of immune system response.

Sauer, Richard L.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Quality requirements for reclaimed/recycled water

Water used during current and previous space missions has been either carried or made aloft. Future human space endeavors will require some form of water reclamation and recycling. There is little experience in the U.S. space program with this technology. Water reclamation and recycling constitute engineering challenges of the broadest nature that will require an intensive research and development effort if this technology is to mature in time for practical use on the proposed U.S. Space Station. In order for this to happen, reclaimed/recycled water specifications will need to be devised to guide engineering development. Present NASA Potable Water Specifications are not applicable to reclaimed or recycled water. Adequate specifications for ensuring the quality of the reclaimed or recycled potable water system is reviewed, limitations of present water specifications are examined, world experience with potable water reclamation/recycling systems and systems analogs is reviewed, and an approach to developing pertinent biomedical water specifications for spacecraft is presented. Space Station water specifications should be designed to ensure the health of all likely spacecraft inhabitants including man, animals, and plants.

Janik, Daniel S.↗