When you've got to go, but you're out there in space, zipped up in a spacesuit, with no toilet in sight and a crew of other astronauts around, what do you do? 

 

如果你在太空裹着宇航服时，迫切需要方便一下，但是周围看不到厕所又有一群宇航员在，你要怎么办呢？

 

NASA has launched a contest for inventors to solve this uncomfortable issue, and promises to award $30,000 to the best "space poop" solutions. 

 

Inventors have until December 20 to submit designs for a personalized waste-wicking system that will handle everything, hands-free, for a period of up to six days. 

 

"The old standby solution consisted of diapers," said the description of contest details at www.herox.com/SpacePoop. 

 

"However, the diaper is only a very temporary solution, and doesn’t provide a healthy/protective option longer than one day." 

 

Sometimes, astronauts have to wait even longer. The two men and one woman who packed themselves into a Russian Soyuz space capsule last week had to wait two full days between launching from Kazakhstan and arriving at the International Space Station.

 

Currently, while at the International Space Station, astronauts use a toilet contraption that includes a vacuum and a tube to help evacuate¹ fecal matter. 

 

To urinate, they use a funnel² attached to a hose that can be adapted for a sitting or standing³ position, and uses air to move urine away. 

 

NASA vowed⁴ to award up to three $30,000 prizes for the most promising⁵ in-suit waste management systems. 

 

The goal is to test them within a year and fully⁶ implement⁷ them within three years.

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