Danish Aerospace Company A/S (DAC) has together with Aquaporin Space Alliance ApS (ASA), our 50/50 joint venture with Aquaporin A/S, signed a new major contract with ESA (European Space Agency) for development of a Water Recovery System (WRU) for use in space.
The contract runs under ESA’s GSTP program (General Support Technology Program) and covers the development of a full ground prototype of a future water purification system for space.
DAC has worked for several years on various technology aspects for such a system, including flying three company funded water cleaning technology experiments on the Danish ESA-astronaut Andreas Mogensen’s flights to ISS in 2015 and 2023.
DAC and ASA (Aquaporin Space Alliance ApS) have previously had contracts with ESA regarding the development of specific key technologies for the water purification system and de-risking various areas. These key technologies will now be integrated and developed further into a full-scale prototype to be tested on ground. The full WRU system will be based on an open loop triple circulation system with a two-stage filtration.
- Danish Aerospace Company (DAC) and Aquaporin Space Alliance ApS (ASA) will now develop and integrate the technologies into a fully operational prototype of the water purifying system for space called WRU – Water Recovery Unit under the new one million Euro contract.
- The WRU system will recycle urine from astronauts and the condensate which is collected from the atmosphere in spacecrafts and the space stations, so the expensive launch of water for astronauts in space can be reduced.
- The WRU system includes, among others, Aquaporin A/S’ unique Aquaporin Inside™- membrane technology which utilizes aquaporin-proteins to transport water through the membrane. Aquaporin proteins are nature’s own water purifier. They quickly enhance a very selective water transport which is found in e.g., plant roots and the human kidney.
- The work can lead to a new type of compact water purifying system, which in the future may be tested on the International Space Station with the possibility of subsequently being used on commercial Space Stations, human flights to the Moon and on the future space station orbiting the Moon; Lunar Gateway.
- Further, the WRU technology has potential within water purification in remote or isolated communities as well and also for use within military and disaster relief areas.
“We are very pleased that we now have signed the contract for the WRU Breadboard project with ESA. It is a technology area, where we have dedicated a lot of time in the past several years, to maturing and de-risking the various technology elements
Water is an extremely scarce resource in space. Astronauts on the International Space Station use about 4-6 liters of water pr. day for drinking, hygiene, and cleaning etc. In comparison we use between 60-150 liters per day here on Earth.
By recycling water, such as humidity in the cabin, urine from the astronauts and wastewater from the lavatories and cleaning, a significant cost saving can be obtained. Launch of 1 kilo of hardware or supplies to ISS are normally valued at approximately $50.000 (DKK 350.000) per kilo.
This new system has an enormous potential, not just within the space industry but also within a variety of more down-to-Earth applications in e.g., disaster relief areas.
Since 2019 this has been a key technology area where DAC has been focusing, in addition to our exercise-, health monitoring- and wearables technologies. We have determinedly worked towards this over the past few years, and it is a key part of our long-term strategy.” says Thomas A. E. Andersen, CEO of DAC and ASA.
Andreas Mogensen with DACs Aquamembrane-3 experiment on ISS i 2023. (Photo: ESA)
For further information:
Thomas A. E. Andersen, CEO, Danish Aerospace Company A/S
Cell phone: +45 40 29 41 62, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.