Dive summary:

• NASA is working on a project to convert space trash like plastic water bottles, clothing scraps, duct tape and drink pouches into disks that can help protect astronauts from radiation.
• The trash is put into a compactor that melts the trash without incinerating it; the end result is an 8-inch in diameter, half an inch thick tile that can be used as a radiation shield.
• The melting process occurs between 300-350 degrees, the remaining concern is if that will be hot enough to sterilize the disks.

From the article:

“One of the ways these discs could be re-used is as a radiation shield because there’s a lot of plastic packaging in the trash. The idea is to make these tiles, and, if the plastic components are high enough, they could actually shield radiation,” said Mary Hummerick, a Qinetiq North America microbiologist at Kennedy working on the project.

Possible areas for increased radiation shielding include astronauts’ sleeping quarters or perhaps a small area in the spacecraft that would be built up to serve as a storm shelter to protect crews from solar flare effects.

Hummerick and the team working in the Space Life Sciences Lab at Kennedy are trying to identify if the tiles — which are made according to recipes based on trash from shuttle missions — are free of microorganisms or at least safe enough for astronauts to come into contact with daily.