L'Affaire Siloxane

In the early years of the International Space Station, water needed to keep the crew alive had to be delivered by Space Shuttle at a cost several times its weight in gold. By 2005, over 9,000 kilograms of the stuff had been flown up from Earth to keep astronauts hydrated, while a further 7,000 kilograms of treated urine were sitting in orbital storage tanks, waiting to be processed.In November 2008, the Water Processing Assembly arrived on the ISS to realize the great dream of space exploration: boiling astronaut pee. The 800 kilogram Urine Processing Assembly would help take the station from a 45% to 80% water reuse rate. For the first time in the history of space flight, astronauts would be substantially recycling their water in an orbiting habitat.In June 2010, thirteen months after the Water Processing Assembly went online, excessive levels of total organic carbon began to show up in the astronauts’ drinking water. Total organic carbon is a non-specific measurement that warns the…