FORWARD OSMOSIS BAG (FOB)
Research Area: Life Support Systems and Habitation
Expedition(s): 27-ongoing
Principal Investigator(s): ● Howard G. Levine, PhD, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Cape
Canaveral, Florida
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The Forward Osmosis Bag (FOB) system is designed to convert dirty water into a liquid that is
safe to drink using a semi-permeable membrane and a concentrated sugar solution. FOB looks
at the forward osmosis membrane in a spaceflight environment and compares its performance
against ground reference controls.
EARTH BENEFITS
Hydration Technology Innovations
(HTI), the manufacturer of the
Forward Osmosis membrane, has
used the same technology to
create a lifesaving water filter for
use in disaster relief situations.
This product has been successfully
used in disaster relief efforts for
the 2010 earthquakes in both
Haiti and Chile and was tested in
the waters from the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina.
SPACE BENEFITS
Forward osmosis technology has
several potential applications for spaceflight. In the near term this technology extends existing
non-potable water resources on the International Space Station (ISS), thus providing a low-mass
alternative for the reduction of stockpiled water on the ISS and flexibility during off-nominal
situations, such as in the event a resupply vehicle is delayed or the primary water-recycling
system becomes nonfunctional. A small forward osmosis device could be incorporated into new
long-exposure spacewalk suits in order to recycle metabolic wastewater (ie, sweat and urine)
into drinkable fluid. A forward osmosis device product could be incorporated into new return
vehicles as a mass and volume-efficient method of providing crews with post-splashdown
fluids. The existing lightweight COTS product can be tethered in seawater to produce a
drinkable fluid.
RESULTS
A microgravity test of the FOB was completed during shuttle flight STS-135 in July 2011.
Postflight analysis showed the ion rejection rates, which are measures of how well a membrane
rejects the passage of dissolved ions, in microgravity to be the same as measured during ground
testing. However, the flux rates (rates of flow per unit area) declined in microgravity by up to
Mission specialist Rex Walheim uses the Forward Osmosis Pump
Syringe to inject the Challenge Liquid into the FOB during STS-
135/ULF7.