The purpose of this experiment is to test the Aquaporin Aquaporin Inside™ membranes.
Three identical sets of hardware are used to test the membranes on ISS. Three sample bags of 300 ml with wastewater from the Space Station’s water recycling system are taken. The content of each wastewater bag will be filtered through one of the Aquaporin Inside™ membrane assemblies.
The experiment subject will take samples from all three setups when the waste water have been filtered. The samples will be downloaded, for ground studies of the samples.
The long term goal for the AquaMembrane experiment is to use Aquaporin Inside™ membranes in the ISS water filtration system, where they can replace the present multi-filtration beds, which are very heavy and require frequent replacement. In addition, the Aquaporin Inside™ membranes can also be used in future water recirculation systems for a manned space vehicle to Mars.
The experiment were run on the ISS during Adreas Mogensens IRISS mission. There Andreas ran the experiment for six hours, Andreas tested the Aquaporin Space Alliance ApS, Aquaporin Inside™ water filtration membrane in space for the first time. DAC is now waiting for the samples to be returned to Earth later in the autumn by an unmanned supply spacecraft for analysis.
ESA-astronaut Andreas Mogensen will use three sets of this setup to filter waste water from ISS during his visit.
(Photo: Aquaporin Space Alliance/Danish Aerospace Company)