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Clean water in space

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As the UK provides ISS crew with clean-water tank linings, NASA develops a liquid waste recovery system. Siobhan Wagner reports

Astronauts on the International Space Station are now able to enjoy a clean drink of water thanks to tanks lined with a specialist polymer formed in the UK.

Fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) flexible bladders, manufactured by

, are now replacing the rubber that once lined water tanks used on the space station since its inception.

The first set of new tanks was integrated into the European space ferry Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and launched this summer by an Ariane 5 Heavy Lift Rocket as part of the EU's contribution to the continuation of the ISS.

Martin Daff, sales director of Holscot, said the bladders are made from two vacuum formings, each 900mm in diameter and 300mm deep. The bladders are used in tanks that hold 300l of drinking water.

'They're the biggest vacuum formings ever done in FEP,' claimed Daff.

Getting the new bladders on board the space station was a long and drawn-out process. Daff said it was in 2000 when Man Technologie Germany (now MT Aerospace) first approached Holscot to develop a unique FEP-lined tank.

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