Tsunami victims, Iraqis get taste of water from space technology [View All]

[Rose Siding]

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It's a question NASA researchers have pondered for nearly two decades, but villagers in Iraq and tsunami victims in Asia will get a taste of their answer as early as this fall _ before any astronaut in space does.
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It could be two years before the water system _ as large as two refrigerators _ is loaded onto a shuttle to serve an American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut living in space. But smaller and simpler versions will soon be put to use on earth.

Reno, Nev.-based investment firm Crestridge and the charity Concern for Kids are developing the systems for humanitarian purposes in nations lacking a reliable water supply, starting with Iraq and southeast Asia.

"There are 1.8 billion people who have never had a drink of fresh water," said Kevin Chambers, Crestridge's managing director. "Our mission is grand, but we've got to start somewhere and some time, and now is the time."

Rocket scientists trying to sustain life in space and humanitarians trying to increase the quality of life in Third World countries kept running into the same problem _ a lack of clean but affordable drinking water........MORE..........

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--spacewater0320mar20,0,1863912.story?coll=ny-region-apconnecticut