In what ways has NASA contributed to the betterment of our air quality and water resources?

During the summer of 1973, three astronauts aboard Skylab – the first space station of the United States – used air testing devices to determine the quality of the air they would breathe over their two-month mission. Their findings were concerning: Skylab's atmosphere contained traces of over 100 harmful chemicals.

Skylab was constructed using some of the most advanced synthetic materials of the time, such as plastics, polymers, and resins. While these materials are excellent for building space stations, they are not ideal for breathable air. These materials were releasing small amounts of toxic gases, a process known as 'off-gassing.' With no windows to open in space, the astronauts had to endure 58 days surrounded by a cloud of cancer-causing chemicals.

Back on Earth, a similar issue was unfolding. In response to soaring energy prices in the late 1970s, office buildings across the United States began to be constructed to much stricter environmental standards. Instead of working in drafty brick-and-steel buildings, Americans found themselves working in well-insulated spaces. While these buildings helped cut heating costs, their stale, recycled air became a trap for off-gassed chemicals, leading to symptoms like itchy eyes, skin rashes, drowsiness, and respiratory issues. This phenomenon eventually came to be known as 'sick building syndrome,' affecting about 30 percent of office buildings [source: Environmental Protection Agency].

In the late 1980s, NASA took action to address the issue of indoor air quality by bringing in Bill Wolverton, an environmental scientist with experience in military cleanup. With his deep knowledge of plants, Wolverton proposed a relatively simple solution: indoor air could be purified with the help of vegetation. Plants like peace lilies and bamboo shoots, which looked great in living rooms, could also help neutralize harmful gases.

To test this hypothesis, NASA engineers created the BioHome, a small, highly-insulated structure resembling a mobile home and constructed almost entirely from synthetic materials. The plastic walls of the BioHome off-gassed so strongly that anyone who entered immediately experienced burning eyes and difficulty breathing. However, once engineers filled the BioHome with houseplants, the air quality inside improved dramatically, becoming as fresh as a daisy in just a few days.

NASA published its findings, leading to the widespread adoption of indoor plants in offices around the globe to help alleviate headaches and skin rashes among workers.

Continue reading to learn how NASA used small amounts of silver to provide clean water to astronauts on the moon.

NASA's Approach to Clean Water

Plants are not just capable of removing pollution from the air; they can also help purify water. The BioHome featured a plant-based sewage system, where instead of undergoing chemical treatment, sewage was redirected through a long plastic pipe filled with aquatic hyacinths. As the sewage passed through the plants, it was filtered so effectively that the water became clean enough to water a garden. This same technique is still in use today at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Missouri for sewage processing.

However, the hyacinths were not NASA's first attempt at simplifying water purification. During the 1960s, Apollo astronauts received their drinking water from fuel cells on board. These cells generated electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen, with water as a by-product. Before mixing the water with their Tang, NASA first filtered it to eliminate any potential bacteria. On Earth, water purification typically involves boiling or using bulky filters, but in the confined, low-power environment of a spacecraft, neither of these methods was feasible. So, NASA developed a compact electronic purification device that would kill bacteria by bombarding the water with negatively charged silver atoms. These particles would attach to bacteria, destroy them, and then be filtered out, allowing the water to be reused. The device was small and portable, no bigger than a pack of cards.

After the Apollo mission, a company based in northern Georgia acquired the commercial rights to the water purification technology. They quickly modified it for widespread use, including in public fountains, commercial swimming pools, and even zoo tanks. If you've swum at a YMCA or admired the decorative fountains at Disneyland, you've encountered water that was purified using the same process originally designed for the moon mission.

In 2008, the International Space Station introduced a groundbreaking method for water purification. Up until that point, water was brought in by space shuttle shipments, but as the shuttle program came to an end, astronauts had to become more resourceful. Their solution? They started drinking urine. Since 2008, the station has relied on an advanced system that transforms urine, sweat, and tears into drinkable water. While it may sound unpleasant, the system is highly efficient, recycling up to 95% of the onboard water and eliminating the need for frequent water deliveries.

While urine converters may not appear on store shelves anytime soon, if NASA embarks on missions further into the solar system, they’ll be grateful to have a device capable of turning 'yesterday's coffee into today's coffee' [source: Atkinson].