Interview with Frank de Winne
[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″] Frank de Winne, Astronaut and Head of the European Astronaut Centre of ESA[/quote]
What is the importance of water recycling technologies for Space Exploration? Where are we today and where are we headed?
Water is, in time, after oxygen, the second consumable needed by a crew to stay alive aboard a spacecraft and from far, the most critical with regards to mass. So far, since the beginning of human space flight, water has always been brought to space from Earth, and very little has been recycled on-board; today, aboard ISS, water recycling is limited to water recovery from cabin condensate and urine. Recovered water is typically recycled up to potable water quality. In the context of future long-term manned space exploration on a planetary/lunar base, the frequency of crew rotation and re-supply will drastically decrease. Therefore, the Life Support System will probably offer additional hygiene equipment to the crew, such as a shower and/or a washing machine. These additional equipment will generate grey water, of which the daily amount is estimated to be three times superior to both urine and condensate. In this context, high efficiency water recycling systems becomes a critical, mission enabling technology.
What has the technology programme of the European Space Agency demonstrated so far in terms of water recycling? What technologies are used? Does Europe has operational systems?
Anticipating long-term manned exploration mission, the European Space Agency (ESA) developed a high efficiency, membrane based water recycling unit. This unit, known as Grey Water Treatment Unit (GWTU) comprises a series of membrane filters: one stage of Nanofiltration and two stages of Reverse Osmosis, and is able to recover water for hygiene purposes. GWTU has been extensively and successfully tested in real life conditions. Validation tests was run over a six-month period using real shower water.
The test results showed that more than 93% of incoming grey water was recovered and that the quality was always compliant with water quality standards for hygiene water, despite two simulations of microbial incidents. Based on these promising results, the development of a similar water treatment unit for the Condordia station (French-Italian Antarctic base), which is considered a representative analogue for long term Moon/planetary manned habitat was initiated. This unit has been sized to meet the needs of the Concordia crew (15 – 70 persons) and comprises a series of ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and two reverse osmosis stages. It is in operation since March 2005 and has been remotely monitored by ESA with support of the Concordia crew for the first four years of operation. Monitoring proved the technology to be extremely robust and to constantly produce water within specification for hygiene water. This unit is still operational today and helps limiting the ecological impact of the Concordia station on the Antarctic environment.
What are the next steps? How can space technology help the water resource problem we are facing this century?
ESA will continue to invest in research and technology of closed loop life support systems. The MELiSSA programme is currently the ESA flagship in this area. We also need to look how these technologies developed for long term human space exploration missions to the Moon and to Mars can best service the European and world citizens. An operational testbed could be installed at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) to demonstrate the capabilities of these new systems. In this respect, the EAC is interested to work together with the WssTP. It could function as a highly visible showcase for the much needed technological solutions offered by the WssTP partners and ESA to the growing water problem.
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Muelheim Water Awards 2014
The Muelheim Water Award is a biennial prize that rewards outstanding projects in practical research and/or implementation of innovative concepts that contribute to an improvement of water management in Europe. The topic for the Mulheim Water Award 2014 is ‘Progress in Water Supply and Sanitation’. The application period starts on 1st of January 2014 and closes on 28th of February 2014.The award has a total prize fund of 20.000€ and is open for applicants from all around Europe. Coordinated by IWW and sponsored by RWE Aqua GmbH and RWW, the award ceremony will be held during the Award dinner in the course of the DBP (Disinfection By-products in drinking water) 2014 conference on 27th and 28th of February 2014 of October 2014 in Muelheim an der Ruhr.
Further details are available in the Muelheim Water Awards website.
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Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2014&2015 has been launched! Get ready to Innovate!
Last Wednesday, the European Commission launched the first calls for projects under Horizon 2020. Horizon 2020 will be the largest European Union Research and Innovation programme so far with a budget of almost €80 billion for the period 2014–2020. The Work Programme for 2104-2015 is worth more than €15 billion. The funding is intended to help boost Europe’s knowledge-driven economy, and tackle issues that will make a difference in people’s lives. This includes 12 areas that will be a focus for action in 2014/2015, including Water!
WssTP has worked hard over the last year in coordination with the EIP Water and our partners to promote the opportunities for water research and innovation activities in Horizon2020 in general, and the 2014-2015 Work Programme in particular. WssTP is very pleased to see that ‘Water Innovation: Boosting its value for Europe’ is amongst the 12 areas that have been identified for special focus in the Horizon 2020 Work Programme. The budget for these water-dedicated calls is €67 million for 2014 and estimate to €96 million for 2015. In addition, many opportunities exist for water-related research and innovation activities in other parts of the calls.
On 22nd of November 2013, WssTP and Errin jointly organised a Brokerage event dedicated to the water-related calls in the 2014-2015 work programme for H2020. The purpose of our event was to gear our members up to repeat the great success they achieved within the last FP7-2013 Water Inno-Demo Call. All the attendees were also provided by WssTP with an analysis of all the relevant water calls for the water sector.
With only a 4% participation, WssTP members are present in 91% of the winning consortia of this year’s FP7-2013 Water Inno-Demo Call,. Even more important, WssTP members had a success rate of 54% compared to an average success rate of only 13%!
Read MoreFinal Declaration from the European Federation of Geologists- Hydrogeology workshop
Under the theme ‘European Water Policy: Challenges for Hydrogeologists’, the European Federation of Geologists hosted a Hydrogeology workshop between 22nd and 23rd of November in Brussels.
The objective of the workshop was to highlight the areas where hydrogeologists are playing an important role in the implementation of the European water policy. The workshop was attended by 80 participants from 18 different countries, including several speakers from the European Commission and supporting organisations (Geological Survey of Belgium, IAH, WssTP and EuroGeosurveys). The agenda of the workshop featured presentations on the current water policy, that were followed by four technical sections on Land use and ecological status; Chemical status and pollution; Water efficiency and Vulnerability . The workshop concluded with a Final Declaration, prepared by the EFG Panel of Experts on Hydrogeology.
To read more about the workshop, please click visit the Eurogeologists website
Download all the presentations of the workshop
Read MoreH2020: Call for expert evaluators
With the arrival of Horizon2020, the EC appoints independent experts to assist Commission services with tasks in connection with Horizon2020. The new call for expression of interest for experts has now been published in the new DG RTD Participant Portal. The registration is already open and full text of the call is available at the EC website
Among the research & innovation assignments of the evaluators, will be the evaluation of proposals, the review of projects and the monitoring of programmes and policies.
The Commission aims to establish a database of independent experts, from a wide range of sectors and especially from the private research sector (big industries and SMEs) with experience on innovation management, market uptake and business development
More information, please contact Durk Krol
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