Comments on: Astronauts Have Drunk Space Pee. Are Stillsuits Next?

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:45:17 +0000

Let’s get our sceince fiction brains together and think of cheap ways to desalinate the oceans first. That is some major energy suckage trying to do that right there. Get rid of the salt and we’ve got good water and lower sea levels from consumption! Localised, coastal methods first. I love Dune, have to agree with Thomas about the new books.

By: Xenobiologista

Xenobiologista — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:58:48 +0000

That’s nothing, Singaporeans have been drinking pee for most of the last decade. (I’m from Malaysia, so am making fun of them gratuituously). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newater

About the stillsuit energy source problem – couldn’t you create a heat gradient by having some parts of the suit be insulated (from either or both the wearer’s body or the ambient heat) and some not?

By: Space-Technology » Astronauts Have Drunk Space Pee. Are Stillsuits Next? | Science ...

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:19:33 +0000

[...] Astronauts Have Drunk Space Pee. Are Stillsuits Next? | Science …Until recently, there was no need for us to try and engage with this sort of water recycling technology. In general, water has been plentiful in this world, and if it wasn’t we just piped it in. (I just re-saw Chinatown, so I’m feeling … [...]

By: Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:50:55 +0000

One of the other problems with the stillsuit is that, at least as Herbert explained it, it’ll probably run up against the laws of thermodynamics.

Then again, I’m sure his son will find a way to explain that while further destroying one of the most spectacular science fiction franchises of the 20th century.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:58:11 +0000

@Egaeus,

D’oh! Of course you’re right.

By: Egaeus

Egaeus — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:46:08 +0000

Brian, heat alone is not a source of power. You need a heat differential to be able to use the energy, like with boiling water to power steam turbines, stirling engines, etc. You can’t just suck the heat energy out of the environment and put it to use. Entropy doesn’t flow that way. If it did, then we’d have a free energy source, and would be concerned about global cooling.

By: Molly

Molly — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:07:08 +0000

The people in the American Southwest can postpone having to wear stillsuits if they get rid of their Eastern style gardens, lawns, and outdoor swimming pools. They are the most irresponsible waterwasters in the private sector. When you move to a desert you live according to the environment.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:03:57 +0000

Re “… it would be unpleasantly warm, especially after a day in the desert; the human body doesn?t provide enough kinetic energy to power the thing…”

Um, heat is a form of energy, hello? If the kinetic energy just isn’t there, you’ve got this heat source, right there…

OK, maybe that’s not exactly the way Frank Herbert envisioned the thing working. But the whole point of the stillsuit, and the Fremen culture, was that it was honed by a life of hardship. Water was life and the most precious of all resources. You treat it carefully or you die.

Herbert said that the Fremen stillsuits were better than any of the offworlder’s suits. That was one detail among thousands that sounded right, felt right.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:09:04 +0000

eew.

By: Conspirama

Conspirama — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:24:59 +0000

Astronauts Have Drank Space Pee. Are Stillsuits Next? | Science …

Space | Even on the harsh deserts of Arrakis, the the water recycling capacity of a stillsuit prevent the wearer from would only lose a thimbleful of water a day. I.