This Guy Invented a Genius Solution for Pooping in Space—Here's How It Works

Going to the bathroom in space is no fun, even if you have access to a toilet.

The Space Shuttle had a toilet, for example, but it required intense training with a below-the-seat video camera to master and avoid making a mess.

Early astronauts did so in bags in the middle of their space capsules.

But spacesuits are the worst. Diapers are pretty much the only option.

Dr. Thatcher Cardon's device, the M-PATS, may be a revolutionary solution to this decades-old problem.

It's built around a small air lock located on the crotch, which Dr. Cardon calls the perineal access port, or PAP. (The perineum is tissue located between the anus and the genitals.)

"I did all of the designing in my head. I'd lay down and think and visualize different concepts," Cardon says. "I thought, 'The waste needs to come out of the suit.'"

"But not out of the back of the suit, because astronauts have to sit and lean back. The hole has to be in the front, near the crotch."

Cardon says the idea came from laparoscopy, in which complex surgery is performed through a small hole (usually with the help of a robot) instead of a large incision.

"I thought: 'Why couldn't we handle waste through a small opening? We can replace heart valves through a hole in a blood vessel, why not this?'" he says.

Here's how it works: The PAP is a miniature airlock. When an astronaut is ready to go, he or she removes a safety cap.

Built into the port is a self-closing valve. Cardon says his prototype is an early mock-up, but the idea is that the valve (left side) can be pushed open inside the suit.

Finally, the astronaut inserts a tube called an "inducer" into the valve. "This prevents gas from escaping, and it also equalizes pressure so it's easy to open," Cardon says.

From there, astronauts can insert a variety of bathroom wizardry into their spacesuits without depressurizing their suits to the vacuum of space.

One of Cardon's big breakthroughs was an inflatable bedpan.