The private space company Nanoracks has together with NASA tested Nanorack’s airlock Bishop Airlock to get rid of garbage from the space station ISS. Until now, rubbish has been stored on the ISS while waiting for material transport vehicles to take it with them when they left the space station and later burned up in the atmosphere.
With Bishop Airlock, the crew on the ISS can now put their garbage in special garbage bags that have room for up to 270 kg of rubbish, writes Nanoracks. These bags are then released from the airlock and then slowly slide down towards the earth’s atmosphere to eventually burn up there. The first time this solution was tested, a little over 70 kg of garbage had been put down. Nanorack’s CEO Amela Wilson says in a press release about the successful test of Bishop Airlock:
“This was the first open-close cycle of the Bishop Airlock, our first deployment, and what we hope is the beginning of new, more sustainable ISS disposal operations.”
Nanoracks is one of three companies appointed to develop proposals for the new space stations that are intended to take over when the ISS retires in 2031. Until these are ready, Nanoracks will, among other things, test stuff on the ISS which may be used for a possible future space station.
Above, you can check out what it looked like when the crew on the ISS fired their large garbage bag from the space station. Below is the same thing filmed from inside the ISS.
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