TSUKUBA, IBARAKI PREF. - As space agencies explore a possible return to the moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has unveiled a new water recycling device that purifies astronauts’ urine into drinking water.

The equipment, developed jointly with Tokyo-based Kurita Water Industries Ltd., was displayed at JAXA’s Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba on Wednesday.

It will be sent to the International Space Station around autumn this year for tests.

The space agency hopes that the device will be used in various projects, including a moon exploration mission now being studied mainly by the United States.

A U.S.-made water recycling system currently in use at the ISS has a recycling rate of 70-80 percent and requires the filter and other parts to be replaced every six months.

Given the challenges of replenishing water supplies on any possible mission to the moon or Mars, a system with a high recycling rate that is easy to maintain needs to be developed.

The equipment developed by JAXA and Kurita turns urine into drinkable water through a process that removes calcium using an ion exchange resin and electrolyzes organic matter.

While the system, with a recycling rate of 85 percent, is capable of producing 800 milliliters of water a day, JAXA hopes to develop a device capable of recycling over 90 percent of the urine from four astronauts and moisture in the air.

Alkaline water produced during the recycling process is used to wash the resin and other parts of the system, making replacement unnecessary for about three years, according to JAXA.