(Illustration by Leandro Castelao)

To maximize efficiency, everything inside a space station should be reused, including the sweat, urine and wastewater of its inhabitants. Las Vegas–based Bigelow Aerospace—which is currently building inflatable, orbital habitats to rent to customers—will be recycling these fluids to power the station's thrusters. The system, designed by Orion Propulsion (now owned by Dynetics), collects and purifies the wastewater before using an electric current to break it into hydrogen and oxygen. The thrusters ignite the gases to provide force that keeps the station stable and correctly positioned in orbit.

The space station operators have good reason for replacing propellants such as hydrazine or nitrogen tetroxide with water collected from a life-support system: money. "The price per pound to get anything up there is so high, we're trying to maximize what they've already got," says Tim Pickens, Orion's founder and the thruster's designer. These hydrogen-­and-oxygen engines also produce double the specific impulse that hydrazine thrusters do, and don't rely on toxic fuels.

Bigelow already launched two prototypes into orbit, but won't light a vacancy sign until private space companies create the craft that will deliver customers. The company expects tourists and microgravity researchers to be the first to sign up for visits.

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