HTV-7

On 22 September 2018 the Japanese cargo vessel HTV-7 was launched into space from Tanegashima, Japan, packed with scientific equipment and supplies for the six astronauts living 400 km above.

The 10-tonne spacecraft is carrying ESA’s new Advanced Closed Loop System that will recycle carbon dioxide on the Space Station into oxygen. Currently oxygen on the Space Station is extracted from water that has to be brought from Earth, a costly and limiting drawback. The new system promises to recycle half of the carbon dioxide thereby saving about 400 l of water sent to the Space Station each year.