An LSU mechanical engineering professor has designed a new way to clean water using radiation that NASA may use on future trips to the moon and Mars.
Assistant Professor Manas Gartia and his team of graduate students are currently working alongside NASA advisor Michael Flynn on the project. The cleaning system harnesses certain types of radiation—which is abundant and can be harmful to astronauts in outer space—to purify water and keep bacteria from growing, according to an LSU news release.
Gartia’s project was made possible through a LaSPACE grant, and is for long-term space exploration, namely NASA’s new Gateway spaceship that will orbit the Moon and serve as a temporary home and office for lunar expeditions and future human missions to Mars.
Unlike the International Space Station, where astronauts are frequent visitors and can bring new supplies of water and the chemicals currently used to clean it, water in the Gateway will remain relatively untouched for months at a time.
Gartia’s project would also help with future Mars missions.
“When astronauts go to Mars one day, it will take about 600-900 days for them to get there,” Gartia said. “The problem is humans are more susceptible to cancer-causing radiation in space after just 176 days. Technology allows us to go there, but there’s no technology to prevent us from getting radiation. Water is the best way to absorb it.”
With the Gateway set to be complete by 2026, Gartia has time to perfect his product. Read the full announcement from LSU.
