The ISS’s new method of disposing of garbage is… throwing it towards Earth

Taking out the garbage in space is not as easy as we do it at home. The astronauts cannot take a bag, open the door and throw it out. Instead, they must comply with a strict process for collecting, classifying and subsequently disposing of waste. In this sense, the International Space Station (ISS) has just tested a new method that promises to be more “efficient and sustainable”.

Currently, the ISS stores the collected garbage for months, awaiting the arrival of the next unmanned mission with supplies. Once the cargo capsule has been emptied, the astronauts can place the garbage bags inside it to burn in the Earth’s atmosphere. The problem? These missions are often delayed, so the garbage starts to accumulate.

The Nanoracks company and NASA’s Johnson Space Center have thought about using one of their locks to dump garbage into space, but… not so fast. Leaving a load of several kilos adrift in orbit does not seem like a very good idea, even more so considering the problem of space debris, which is a threat to the ISS itself. Thus, they have launched a test designed to the millimeter.

This is how the ISS will throw the garbage

As Nanoracks explainslast weekend, the crew of the ISS dumped 78 kilos of trash from Bishop Airlock airlock, the first of its kind installed in the orbiting laboratory in December 2020. For this, a specially designed container was used. There were packing materials, cargo transfer bags, hygiene products and other items discarded by the crew.

As with the loading capsules, such as the american cygnusthe Nanoracks and NASA container will follow a calculated trajectory until its subsequent disintegration on re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere. Those responsible for the project have described the test as successful, so they are closer to its implementation.

Although there is no date on the calendar yet for this method to start being used regularly, it is positive that astronauts have an alternative and that they do not depend exclusively on cargo missions. For example, explains the company, four astronauts can generate up to 2,500 kg of garbage per year.

In Xataka | There is so much space debris that we have lost control of many objects: how serious is the problem