It turns out that these common things in life were originally prepared for astronauts!

On October 12, 2024, Lei Zhanxu, Secretary General of the Science and Technology Committee of the 510th Institute of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, gave a speech entitled "Dreaming of Space in the Hometown of Flying Astronautics" at the "Exploring the Galaxy and Pursuing Dreams in the Sky" theme event of Science Popularization China.

The following is an excerpt from Lei Zhanxu’s speech:

Many of our daily life, including food, clothing, housing and transportation, are related to aerospace.

For example, the diapers that children use when they are young were originally used by astronauts. In the 1960s, when NASA was preparing for the Apollo moon mission, it needed to design a system for astronauts that could handle urine and feces to ensure that astronauts could solve personal hygiene problems during long-term space flights and keep their space suits comfortable and clean. NASA scientists developed a highly absorbent material that can absorb and lock in large amounts of liquid, thereby keeping the inside of the space suit dry.

Later, this technology was commercialized and applied to the manufacture of baby diapers. The highly absorbent material enables diapers to quickly absorb the baby's urine and keep the surface dry, which greatly improves the comfort of the baby and the convenience of the caregiver.

There is also filtered water that many people use at home. Since astronauts cannot frequently replenish water resources in space, there are extremely high requirements for water recycling and purification technologies. These technologies include a variety of filtration methods, such as microfiltration, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and distillation, as well as the use of special antibacterial materials and chemicals to remove impurities and microorganisms in water.

The application of these advanced water treatment technologies in the aerospace field not only improves the living conditions of astronauts, but also promotes the development and application of related technologies on Earth. For example, some water filtration technologies used in spacecraft have been transformed into civilian technologies to improve the quality of drinking water, treat wastewater, and provide clean water in disaster relief and outdoor survival.

In addition, products such as dehydrated vegetables in instant noodles, air cushion shoes, and even lens materials and coating technologies for sunglasses are all related to aerospace.