Jin Xukai, chief designer of a Hong Kong medical device company, presents the functions of the new space toilet in Beijing on Thursday, June 26, 2008. [Photo: cnr.cn]
A Hong Kong medical device company donated a new type of space toilet that took the company three years to develop to the country's culture exchange association for space science and technology in Beijing on Thursday.
Xinhua News Agency reported that the donation came after the deputy commander-in-chief of China's Manned Space Program, Hu Shixiang, pointed out in Hong Kong once that space toilets often had problems collecting liquid and solid waste, causing inconvenience to astronauts.
According to the chief designer Jin Xukai, this new space toilet was launched after they had conducted 200 tests and experiments during its three-year long research and development period.
This new design will be much easier to use for astronauts. Just by pressing one button, wastes can be collected completely sealed to overcome leaking problems, which often occurred with the older space toilets.
Jin hopes that scientists can test the new toilet in space to perfect its functions in the future.