Kurita Completes Disassembly and Analysis of Water Recycling System Returned from ISS Orbital Demonstration

Kurita Industrial Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Hirotomo Ejiri; hereinafter 'the Company' or 'Kurita') has conducted disassembly and analysis of the 'Water Recycling Technology Demonstration System' (hereinafter 'the system') that completed orbital demonstration on the International Space Station (ISS) by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and returned to Earth. The purpose was to verify degradation and changes in characteristics due to operation under microgravity. The Company has completed this series of work and reported the results to JAXA.

This demonstration began in 2011 when JAXA and the Company signed a joint research agreement on the development of next-generation water recycling systems. Subsequently, the Company was commissioned to develop the system, which collects moisture (urine) generated inside spacecraft and regenerates it into drinking-quality water, and delivered it to JAXA in 2019. In the same year (2019), it was launched to the 'Kibo' Japanese Experiment Module of the ISS, where orbital demonstration was conducted by JAXA over approximately four years until 2023, with technical support from the Company on the ground. The system performed as expected and yielded numerous valuable insights into water treatment characteristics under microgravity.

In line with the intentions of both JAXA and the Company to utilize internal changes in the equipment after demonstration for future space development, the system was returned to and recovered on Earth in May of last year (2025). Weighing over 100 kg, this is the first large-scale JAXA device to return to Earth. After recovery, disassembly and inspection of the system were carried out at the Kurita Group's R&D hub, 'Kurita Innovation Hub' (KIH; Hino City, Tokyo), by the Company's development team.

As a result, unique behaviors of water and bubbles inside the system under microgravity—different from those on Earth—were observed. Additionally, component degradation and impacts on peripheral equipment due to over four years of continuous orbital operation, exceeding initial expectations, revealed issues that need to be addressed from both design and operational perspectives. Kurita will apply the knowledge gained from this demonstration to the development of technologies related to water recovery and recycling in space.

The Kurita Group will contribute to creating new value in space and expanding the scope of human activities by collaborating with various government, private, and academic organizations involved in space development, advancing water recovery and purification technologies, and building sustainable water infrastructure in space. Furthermore, by leveraging insights gained from R&D in the space sector, the Group will create and provide solutions that contribute to solving societal and industrial challenges on Earth, thereby contributing to the realization of a sustainable society.