Astronauts Staying at Space Station Solve 'Trash' Problem [Science Read]

International Space Station Introduces Airlock System
Regularly Disposes Waste in Special Bags
Previously Loaded into Decommissioned Modules or Cargo Ships for Atmospheric Reentry and Incineration
Accepts Inconvenience of Discarding Small Trash During Spacewalks

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Astronauts residing on the International Space Station (ISS), jointly constructed by space powers such as the United States, Russia, and Europe, are the top elites representing their respective countries and take great pride in pioneering new frontiers of science on behalf of humanity. However, they also faced a major headache: waste disposal. Until now, waste was collected and packed into disposal modules or cargo ships, which were then sent to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up, or astronauts carried waste out during spacewalks, making the process extremely inconvenient. But with the introduction of a new waste disposal method on the ISS, their burden has been eased.

According to Space.com on the 8th, ISS astronauts on the 2nd discharged about 78 kg of waste through a newly constructed airlock, placing it in specially designed trash bags. This was the first waste disposal experiment using a new orbital waste management technology developed recently by Nanoracks. The specially made trash bags contained discarded items such as used packaging materials, cargo transport bags, office supplies, crew hygiene products, and clothing. The trash bags orbit the Earth and then re-enter the atmosphere to burn up. For example, in September 1996, Russia disposed of waste in this manner from the Mir space station, which re-entered the atmosphere and was incinerated about 1 year and 8 months later, in May 1998.

The newly installed dedicated waste disposal airlock on the ISS weighs approximately 970 kg and was transported to the ISS aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched in June 2020. It was installed on December 23 of the same year and is the world's first commercial airlock. This airlock is also planned to be used in the new commercial space station (Starlab), scheduled to operate from 2027. It can process up to 272 kg of waste and was built based on Nanoracks' small satellite deployment system previously installed on the ISS.

Until now, astronauts residing on the ISS struggled with waste disposal. They filled cargo transport ships or disposal modules, which were to re-enter the atmosphere and be incinerated, with waste, or even carried small items out during spacewalks to discard them. Previously, the former Soviet Union used a similar airlock disposal method from the Salyut space stations in the 1970s and 1980s through to the Mir space station in the 1990s.