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(Roman) Recycling on the station
is very important for many reasons.
The first one, of course, is money.
The more water we can recycle
in station, the less water we
have to bring to the crew every
time. And approximately, if you
think about a pound of water, it's
about $19,000 to launch. That's
including all the price of having
your rocket and everything. You can
imagine that after a while, having
a processor that will recycle the
water that you have in there makes
sense. And that's where we are
right now. We can save a lot of
money by just not having to launch
as much water any more. A person
will need -- to stay healthy --
will need about from one to two
gallons of water a day. So if you
multiply that by six people, and
you multiply that by all the days
they're up there, that's a lot of
water -- and very heavy water. It
makes sense because it saves money.
It makes sense also because on
top of that you generate less trash.
So if you recycle in station --
things like your food containers
and other things -- now you make a
lot less trash. Your containers
are smaller. You are more conscious
of everything around you --
everything around you! Clothes.
All those things. You have to be a
little bit more thoughtful about
what you're doing up there, because
the more trash you generate --
you're inside a can with your
trash -- so you know there's only
so many times during the month that
you can take that trash outside
of your house. So the recycling in
itself helps the crew stay healthy;
helps the crew stay comfortable;
makes sense because it saves money;
and also helps us on Earth [learn to]
live a little bit more frugal --
with a little bit less -- and still
be very comfortable and healthy.