# Stuff and Things > HISTORY, veterans & science >  $23 million space toilet ready for launch

## nonsqtr

Geez... and here I thought the DoD's 700 dollar coffee pots were bad...

NASA's new $23 million space toilet is ready for launch | Space

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AntiSocial-ist (09-27-2020),Conservative Libertarian (09-27-2020),fortis (09-27-2020),Quark (09-27-2020)

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## Conservative Libertarian

Well.. Pissing and Shitting in zero gravity does present sanitary challenges.

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AntiSocial-ist (09-27-2020),nonsqtr (09-27-2020),Quark (09-27-2020)

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## fortis

The reason for the high cost is they need dozens of toilets for different gender identities.

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AntiSocial-ist (09-27-2020),Captain Kirk! (09-27-2020),Conservative Libertarian (09-27-2020),nonsqtr (09-27-2020)

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## nonsqtr

Y'know, I just get to wondering how much those little kiosks cost, that they put up near the train stations and such. "Public pay toilets", they call em, but have you ever seen the inside of one of those things? I saw a maintenance guy once, he had the top open, that thing had a whole jet engine ventilation system in there. Tubes and pipes and electronics all over the place.

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Conservative Libertarian (09-27-2020)

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## jirqoadai

they could simply put bullwinkle obomas facial picture in the bottom of a bucket and the piss would naturaly move towards her/his/its pic.

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Conservative Libertarian (09-27-2020),nonsqtr (09-27-2020)

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## Quark

I would imagine the costs are high because there are not many of those toilets made. I got to see one of those $700 coffee pots and they cost a lot for two reasons; not that many made and they have to do things that no earth bound coffee pot could ever hope to do.

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Conservative Libertarian (09-27-2020),nonsqtr (09-27-2020)

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## Captain Kirk!

For 23 mil it better fly!

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Conservative Libertarian (09-27-2020),fortis (09-27-2020),Quark (09-27-2020)

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## nonsqtr

> I would imagine the costs are high because there are not many of those toilets made. I got to see one of those $700 coffee pots and they cost a lot for two reasons; not that many made and they have to do things that no earth bound coffee pot could ever hope to do.


Keep coffee warm?  :Thinking: 

My little travel mug is anti-gravity, I can turn it upside down and nothing happens. I got it for 1.99 at the 99-cent store.  :Wink:

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## Quark

> For 23 mil it better fly!


  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  :Smiley ROFLMAO: 
Oh it will!

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Captain Kirk! (09-27-2020),Conservative Libertarian (09-27-2020)

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## jirqoadai

> For 23 mil it better fly!


in 1978 the grounds maintanance and operations peoples budget without supplies was $1,000,000 a day per launch schedule. thats only with a delta rocket. now budget seven on each turntable balancing their payloads.

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## jirqoadai

Captain Kirk. @ Lompoc

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## Quark

> Keep coffee warm? 
> 
> My little travel mug is anti-gravity, I can turn it upside down and nothing happens. I got it for 1.99 at the 99-cent store.


 If you ever get to tour a C-5 Galaxy or a similar Air force transport as to see the flight deck and have them show you the coffee pot and what the pot has to endure during flight. Every military cargo plane probably has one and probably there are a few of those pots in storage for replacement but there are not that many made. The less units made the higher the costs. The more units made the lower the costs.

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## jirqoadai

so do the math, rule of 72, each missile launch costs $64,000,000 just to launch. not the parts or assembly of.

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## nonsqtr

> so do the math, rule of 72, each missile launch costs $64,000,000 just to launch. not the parts or assembly of.


Rule of 72 - is that the multiplier for a cost overrun?  :Wink:

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## kazenatsu

That's not actually that surprising. The toilet on the space station has to meet special exacting specifications. For one thing, it's an enclosed atmosphere, in zero gravity, and you don't want any of the smell or fluid leaking out of it into the completely enclosed living space. That would be a disaster. The materials for the toilet and sewage system have to be extremely lightweight, since it is very expensive sending heavy things into space. The toilet has to be made to be extremely reliable.
Then it takes all the research to develop this new thing. 

They also were trying to make this thing energy efficient, since electric power is in short supply in space. This toilet also processes the urine and recycles it into reclaimed water. Which I feel is probably totally unnecessary, but the scientists at NASA are really into recycling. 

Probably testing this thing in zero gravity environments (probably inside a plane taking a nose dive) was expensive too.

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## Sled Dog

this is what they need for space toilets.

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## Sled Dog

> That's not actually that surprising. The toilet on the space station has to meet special exacting specifications. For one thing, it's an enclosed atmosphere, in zero gravity, and you don't want any of the smell or fluid leaking out of it into the completely enclosed living space. That would be a disaster. The materials for the toilet and sewage system have to be extremely lightweight, since it is very expensive sending heavy things into space. The toilet has to be made to be extremely reliable.
> Then it takes all the research to develop this new thing. 
> 
> They also were trying to make this thing energy efficient, since electric power is in short supply in space. This toilet also processes the urine and recycles it into reclaimed water. Which I feel is probably totally unnecessary, but the scientists at NASA are really into recycling. 
> 
> Probably testing this thing in zero gravity environments (probably inside a plane taking a nose dive) was expensive too.


And yeah, a fiberglass or graphite gadget wasn't the cost driver.

The designing and testing were.

They probably had six months of design review meetings on the flush handle alone.

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