Paragon Space Development Corporation Announces Water Purification System for Starlab

Paragon Space Development Corporation has announced that it is supplying an Alternative Urine Processor Engineering Development Unit to Starlab Space, the U.S.-led joint venture between Voyager Space, Airbus, and Mitsubishi Corporation which is designing and will operate the Starlab commercial space station. 

The performance of the four-crew AUP will be evaluated as part of a Starlab technology maturation test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. under realistic operating conditions. Due to the critical need for regenerative water purification systems aboard stations with extended mission durations, the successful test of this unit will be part of a multi-phase process to support the validation of Starlab’s systems. 

The AUP, based on Paragon’s Brine Processor Assembly currently on the International Space Station, can process pretreated urine at the specified required rates, reach a water recovery of 99% in a ~3x smaller form factor and eliminates nearly all of the failure modes present in the current state-of-the-art system.

“If human beings are to spend more time orbiting Earth aboard space stations like Starlab, the ability to provide constant potable water is imperative – it is really that simple. Without water, you don’t have the ability to provide for human beings on any spacecraft,” said Grant Anderson, Paragon president and CEO.   

“The trick with long endurance space missions is always one of technology and logistics as distant, long-duration missions restrict the ability to resupply water. A water purification system like this AUP is a key solution, and we look forward to leveraging this technology to support Starlab and the broader future of space travel.”

Given the high consumption rates of water by humans, the Starlab program team has targeted at least 90% of the wastewater generated on the space station to be purified and recycled to reduce the cost of transporting water from Earth. This in turn requires that urine, which comprises over one-third of the metabolic wastewater produced by the crew, be recycled as well as toilet flush water.

Paragon has been a trusted leader in supporting mission critical operations for space, military, and commercial customers around the world for over 31 years. 

Pictured above from left – Ron Sable, Board Chairman, Paragon Space Development Corporation; Grant Anderson, President & CEO, Co-Founder,Paragon Space Development Corporation. Photo by Brent G. Mathis