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The Volatile Removal Assembly (VRA) is a high temperature catalytic oxidation process that will be used as the final treatment for recycled water aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The multiphase nature of the process had raised concerns as to the performance of the VRA in a micro gravity environment. To address these concerns, two experiments were designed. The VRA Flight Experiment (VRAFE) was designed to test a full size VRA under controlled conditions in micro gravity aboard the SPACEHAB module and in a 1-g environment and compare the performance results. The second experiment relied on visualization of two-phase flow through small column packed beds and was designed to fly aboard NASA's micro gravity test bed plane (KC-135). The objective of the KC-135 experiment was to understand the two-phase fluid flow distribution in a packed bed in micro gravity.

Hamilton Standard Space Systems International, Inc. (HSSSI) is under contract to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to develop a Water Processor Assembly (WPA) for the International Space Station (ISS) Water Processor Assembly. The WPA produces potable quality water from humidity condensate, carbon dioxide reduction water, water obtained from fuel cells, reclaimed urine distillate, shower, handwash and oral hygiene waste waters. This paper describes the WPA integration into the ISS Node 3. It details the substantial development history supporting the design and describes the WPA System characteristics and its physical layout.