The biggest technical problem of the Artemis II mission was the space toilet, how the problem was solved
Kyiv • UNN
Due to pump malfunctions and ventilation icing, the Orion crew temporarily lost access to the lavatory. NASA melted the ice with solar heat to repair the system.
During the test flight of NASA's Artemis II mission, the toilet system in the Orion capsule caused the most trouble for the crew. The reason was pump malfunctions and probable icing of the vent, Bloomberg reports, writes UNN.
Details
The Universal Waste Management System space toilet began to malfunction on the first day of the flight. NASA found that the system's pump was not sufficiently filled with water, which required it to be restarted.
Subsequently, another problem arose – one of the liquid waste discharges overboard stopped earlier than it should have. NASA suggested that the vent could have been partially blocked by ice. Because of this, the crew was temporarily forbidden to use the toilet for urination, leaving only backup options.
How the problem was solved
To restore the system, NASA rotated the Orion capsule so that the vent opening was heated by the sun for several hours. This was supposed to melt any possible ice and restore normal flow.
After several test discharges, the system began to work more stably, and the crew was allowed to use the toilet in normal mode again.
NASA recognized that even such a household system can become critically important for a flight. For a 10-day mission around the Moon, a working toilet is part of the crew's basic life support no less than other onboard systems.