Brenda Marie Rivers
Collins Aerospace, a company formed by Rockwell Collins and United Technologies Corp.’s aerospace systems business, has designed a waste management platform that decreases the volume of space trash by 93 percent.
The firm said Wednesday it developed the concept of an integrated Trash Compaction and Processing System as part of NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 solicitation that seeks compaction and management platforms for space trash.
The company utilized its experience with Environmental Control and Life Support Systems to design the platform intended to turn two cubic feet of trash into a small disc.
Shawn Macleod, senior business manager for space systems at Collins Aerospace, said the system provides astronauts with a new way to handle trash in situ during longer space missions.
Collins will develop and test the trash compactor system within 18 months under the NextSTEP-2 effort ahead of the project’s second increment, which will focus on procurement matters.
The company currently holds a contract with NASA to develop a Universal Waste Management System for astronauts in deep space.
