Good choice! A space station toilet works just like a vacuum cleaner:

1. Sit on toilet seat
2. Turn the vacuum on
3. Slide two padded bars over your thighs to hold yourself down on the seat
4. The vacuum sucks the waste into a plastic bag
5. Use the toilet paper, then put it into the bag and seal it.
6. The toilet squeezes the bag down in size, then stores it until a shuttle can return it to earth. No dumping in space!

But the toilet needs electricity to work. So do many other things on your space station—the heating and cooling systems, lights, air filters, and more.

Life support systems need about one kilowatt of power for each astronaut. What will provide this power?

Batteries (One kilogram of batteries produces .05 kilowatts)

Fuel cells (One kilogram of fuel cells produces .70 kilowatts)

Nuclear (One kilogram of fuel cells produces .03 kilowatts)

Solar energy (One kilogram of solar cells produces .10 kilowatts)

Space toilet image courtesy NASA
Fuel cell image courtesy Schatz Energy Research Center, Humboldt State University, California.
Nuclear RTG image copyright 1996-97, California Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. Further reproduction
prohibited.

© The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, 1999