The Trash Compactor and Processing System Development

Historically, trash generated on-orbit has been stored at the International Space Station (ISS) and later discarded by incineration during reentry in an expendable supply vehicle. Over the last few years a Trash Compactor and Processing System (TCPS) has been in development by Collins Aerospace for processing space mission trash. Concepts for both the prototype and flight units have been developed and undergone preliminary internal and NASA reviews successfully. A prototype has been built and tested to demonstrate the system concept and advance the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) for the higher risks components and subsystems. The TCPS evacuates the chamber, compacts the trash, recovers water via an internal distillation process, vents the toxic gases created, and sterilizes the rubbish by heating it to elevated temperatures continuously for several hours. Multiple test runs have been successfully conducted to date. The resultant compressed trash pucks, and liquid effluents were collected and tested. The results of which are discussed in this paper. In addition, this paper summarizes the development of the Collins Aerospace�s TCPS unit, with a focus on the design and testing of the ground demonstrator unit.