This guy invented a genius solution for pooping in space - here's how it works

Courtesy Dr. Thatcher Cardon/USAF

Dr. Thatcher Cardon, the winner of HeroX's and NASA's 2017 Space Poop Challenge.

Astronauts have a problem: a bathroom problem.

Bulky spacesuits force astronauts to either hold their urine and feces, possibly for up to 12 hours, or use a diaper. There really isn't another option, aside from fasting.

But the future of going potty in space suddenly looks pretty practical thanks to the ingenuity of Dr. Thatcher Cardon, a 49-year-old family doctor, flight surgeon, land USAF colonel who lives in Del Rio, Texas.

Space agencies are looking to send people to the moon, asteroids, and even Mars, so adventurous humans will need go to the bathroom in space - which is why HeroX and NASA teamed up to launch the Space Poop Challenge.

On Wednesday, contest organizers announced that Dr. Cardon had won the $15,000 first-prize for his prototype invention.

"You need to plan for emergencies. If a small meteor puts hole in the Orion spacecraft, for example, astronauts might have to spend six days in their suits until they can get back to Earth, or they can fix the hole," Dr. Cardon tells Business Insider. "There was no option inside of a spacesuit for feces, except for a diaper, until now."

Dr. Cardon shared photos of his incredible solution to this decades-old problem with Business Insider.

Here's how his invention, called the MACES Perineal Access and Toileting System (M-PATS), works and why it just might revolutionize space travel.