Spacesuit-clad NASA astronauts have to go to the bathroom in diapers. But a new invention by Dr. Thatcher Cardon may change space travel forever.
Astronauts have a problem: a bathroom problem.
Bulky spacesuits force astronauts to either hold their urine and feces, possibly for up to 12 hours, or use a diaper. There really isn't another option, aside from fasting.
But the future of going potty in space suddenly looks pretty practical thanks to the ingenuity of Dr. Thatcher Cardon, a 49-year-old family doctor, flight surgeon, land USAF colonel who lives in Del Rio, Texas.
Space agencies are looking to send people to the moon, asteroids, and even Mars, so adventurous humans will need go to the bathroom in space — which is why HeroX and NASA teamed up to launch the Space Poop Challenge.
On Wednesday, contest organizers announced that Dr. Cardon had won the $15,000 first-prize for his prototype invention.
"You need to plan for emergencies. If a small meteor puts hole in the Orion spacecraft, for example, astronauts might have to spend six days in their suits until they can get back to Earth, or they can fix the hole," Dr. Cardon tells Business Insider. "There was no option inside of a spacesuit for feces, except for a diaper, until now."
Dr. Cardon shared photos of his incredible solution to this decades-old problem with Business Insider.
Here's how his invention, called the MACES Perineal Access and Toileting System (M-PATS), works and why it just might revolutionize space travel.
Going to the bathroom in space is no fun, even if you have access to a toilet.
The Space Shuttle had a toilet, but it required intense training with a video camera to avoid making a mess in orbit.
Early astronauts did so in bags in the middle of their space capsules.
But spacesuits are the worst. Diapers are pretty much the only option.
Dr. Thatcher Cardon's device, the M-PATS, may be a revolutionary solution to this decades-old problem.
It's built around a small air lock located on the crotch, which Dr. Cardon calls the "perineal access port" or PAP. (The perineum is tissue located between the anus and genitals.)
"I did all of the designing in my head. I'd lay down and think and visualize different concepts," Dr. Cardon says. "I thought, 'the waste needs to come out of the suit.'"
"But not out of the back of the suit, because astronauts have to sit and lean back. The hole has to be in the front, near the crotch."
Dr. Cardon says the idea came from laparoscopy, where complex surgery is performed through a small hole (usually with the help of a robot) instead of a large incision.
"I thought, 'why couldn't we handle waste through a small opening? We can replace heart valves through a hole in a blood vessel, why not this?'" he says.
Here's how it works: The PAP is a miniature airlock. When an astronaut is ready to go, he or she removes a safety cap.
Next, the astronaut attaches a self-closing valve to the port. Dr. Cardon says his prototype is an early mock-up, but the idea is to have the valve (left) open inside the suit.
Finally, the astronaut inserts a tube called an "inducer" into the valve. "This prevents gas from escaping, and it also equalizes pressure so it's easy to open," Dr. Cardon says.
From there, an astronaut can insert a variety of bathroom wizardry into their spacesuit without depressurizing their suit to the vacuum of space.
The inducer is port through which an astronaut can insert all kinds of helpful tools, including Dr. Cardon's big breakthrough: an inflatable bedpan.
The bedpan is lined with soft terry cloth and contains a lubricant. It curls up and inserts through the inducer, pushes through the PAP, and moves into position inside the spacesuit.
Astronauts then squeeze an inflator bulb attached to the bedpan. "It inflates the device like a flower into a full-blown bedpan," Dr. Cardon says. "This creates space in the suit. It's nice to have space to defecate."
The lubricant makes sure any stool slips into the bedpan and doesn't stick, while the terrycloth helps with cleanup. After an astronaut is done with the bedpan, it deflates, curls back up, and is pulled back out the inducer tube.
Other tools help clean up, like a water-spraying bidet. But the "hygiene wand" with a wet wipe roll on the end looks truly revolutionary.
To understand just how magical the hygiene wand is, watch this animation. As Dr. Cardon pulls on a plastic-lined cover, the wand's never-ending wet wipe rolls into itself.
Fresh space underwear can even go through the inducer tube. This one is for men.
And this is the underwear prototype for women.
Either one will collapse to fit into the inducer, slip through the port, and unfold inside the suit.
There are also urine collection devices for male and female anatomy.
A battery-powered "universal suction device" helps pull waste into the bedpan or urine collectors, and ultimately into waste collection bags.
"I think the thing that’s so great about the invention is the versatility," Dr. Cardon says. "A lot of things could go into this port."
"You could use this port to do a lot of different things, even emergency surgery. Put a port like that right over the navel, you could do abdominal surgery. One on the chest could give you access there."
"If astronauts are ever in a situation in space where trauma is involved, like asteroid mining, you might want to have those ports there," he says.
Two of Dr. Cardon's teenage kids (three others are off at college) helped buy the supplies to make his prototype, and his wife helped with fabrication efforts. They were ecstatic when he won — it took them five weeks' worth of nights and weekends to make.
Dr. Cardon will use his $15,000 prize to cover the $1,000 he's already invested, plus buy some new tools to keep developing his idea. "I always wanted to be a biomedical engineer and ended up becoming a family doctor," he says.
"I think I could still become a biomedical engineer," Dr. Cardon tells Business Insider. "I guess I never thought astronaut poop would be the way into it."
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