A 9-year-old boy from Malaysia may have solved one of the biggest dilemmas on NASA’s plate.
Easy peasy: Zyson Kang Zy Sun invented the “Spacesuit Lunar Toilet,” a portable toilet specially designed for astronauts, which would allow them to urinate in zero gravity, reported the New Straits Times.
- The contraption does not need batteries and instead works by creating a vacuum that can siphon liquids excreted by the body.
- It fits inside an astronaut’s spacesuit and is fairly easy to use while moving around inside space stations.
- To remove the urine, an astronaut simply needs to move their legs once they’ve finished.
- The movement lets the urine flow down straight into a container fitted in the astronaut’s boots where it is siphoned into a disposable container.
Top prize: Zyson’s design, which NASA may use in their future manned space missions, recently bested over 897 participants from 85 countries at the prestigious Lunar Loo Challenge 2020 (Junior Category).
- Zyson’s coach Chong Soo Sheong shared that Zyson began the project in June and submitted the model to NASA for evaluation in August.
- “On Oct. 29, NASA invited him to present his model at a webinar,” noted the 43-year-old coach. “The NASA team was impressed by the simplicity of his model.”
- According to Chong, the portable toilet can be utilized by other professionals, including COVID-19 frontliners working on emergency cases.
- He also shared that Zyson wants to become a geneticist someday, revealing the qualities that made the young inventor a natural scientist.
- “Zyson has a knack for inventions,” the coach said. “He is an avid reader with an extremely curious mind. Science simply excites him, especially astronomy.”
Featured Image Screenshots via ZYSON’s InnoCreation
