Here’s what space toilets can teach us about finding signs of alien life
Waste flushed from space shuttle simulates the plumes of icy moons, one scientist suggests
The search for life may get an assist from the call of nature. Astronomers can learn how to study the plumes of subsurface ocean water spewing from icy moons like Saturn’s Enceladus from an unlikely source: Space toilets.
Future spacecraft might scoop up samples of Enceladus’ plumes. Figuring out what to expect is tricky: It’s hard to replicate the plumes in Earth-based labs. But astronauts have already done natural experiments in venting water to space, Ralph Lorenz, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University, pointed out October 17 at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Provo, Utah.