MOSCOW. May 16 (Interfax) - The Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have tested an experimental system which converts urine into water for technical uses, Roscosmos said.
"While the whole country was having May holidays, the Russian cosmonauts aboard the ISS barely stopped working. The crew were busy conducting scientific experiments, gathering data and keeping the ISS space 'town' operational," the state corporation said in a statement.
One experiment was called Separatsiya (Separation).
"Its aim was to obtain pure water from urine. The processed liquid will be for technical uses only, such as obtaining oxygen. Very soon this experimental system could become a regular on-board system, which will provide a good offload for the cargo flow," Roscosmos said.
Testing the filtration system is an important stage in preparations for manned missions to the Moon and Mars.
"In addition, Oleg Kononenko and Alexei Ovchinin also managed to conduct some minor repairs by replacing the carbon dioxide removal unit in the Vozdukh (Air) system," Roscosmos said.