Air Force Doctor Wins NASA's 'Space Poop Challenge'

The "Space Poop Challenge" has come to an end after it was announced a few months ago. Someone has finally found a way to solve NASA's waste management problem in space.

Space News reported that NASA has finally announced the winner of its "Space Poop Challenge." Air Force Col. Thatcher Cardon bagged the $15,000 prize out of 50,000 competitors for creating a super-absorbent diaper to help astronauts excrete bodily waste without much hassle.

"The ability to protect the crew while in a pressurized suit for such an emergency situation is one that has never before been tested in space and is critical for crew health," said spacesuit engineer Kirstyn Johnson at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in a statement. "It was invigorating to see the number of people interested and engaged in the challenge. From here, we'll be able to use aspects of the winning designs to develop future waste management systems for use in the suit."

Cardon, a commander of the 47th medical group at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, introduced a "perineal access port" on the spacesuit's crotch where astronauts could store their specially designed toiletries. This device allows astronauts to easily relieve and clean up themselves with the use of spacesuit gloves, without causing much trouble in microgravity.  

Cardon said that his training as a flight surgeon gave him an idea on how to maintain pressure while wearing a spacesuit and using a waste disposal device. Members of the medical staff at the Air Force are used to consider various levels of pressure in the flight cabin when taking care of airlifted patients.

Cardon also created a "hygiene wand" as an alternative to toilet paper. The cleaning stick is tipped with "bunched tubular fabric" that could be pulled off in the middle to make way for fresh fabric sheets.

According to a press release, the Air Force doctor who had dreamed of becoming a biomedical engineer, "drove around town to dollar stores, thrift stores, craft, clothing and hardware stores to buy materials for mockups" after developing his system.

"I have a small office and workshop that was in a complete uproar for several weeks as the submission came together on evenings and weekends," he said. "It was a ton of fun."

This state of the art spacesuit is set to fly with the Orion deep-space mission between 2021 and 2023.