On the International Space Station (ISS) waste is stored and then placed onto cargo vessels that burn up as they re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. For long-term or deep space missions however that won’t always be an option.

Since 2006 NASA has been making plans for the creation of a inhabited research facility on the moon. From a lunar base, sending the waste back to Earth wouldn’t be a real option, nor would dumping the waste onto the Moon’s low gravity surface. NASA is also looking at other, future, deep space missions such as a potential manned mission to Mars, which would have its own supply and waste disposal problems.

In an effort to find solutions to these potential problems, NASA entered into an agreement with researchers at the University of Florida.

“We were trying to find out how much methane can be produced from uneaten food, food packaging and human waste. The idea was to see whether we could make enough fuel to launch rockets and not carry all the fuel and its weight from Earth for the return journey. Methane can be used to fuel the rockets. Enough methane can be produced to come back from the moon,” said Pratap Pullammanappallil, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering in a statement.

Using simulated waste products supplied by NASA the team developed an anaerobic digester process. The process kills pathogens in waste and produces biogas; in this case a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide.

The team demonstrated that, using this process, 290 liters (about 75 gallons) of methane per day. The process additionally produced about 200 gallons of non-potable water annually.

The process isn’t just for space travel and confined space however. The researchers believe that with the proper equipment, the process could be used on earth for electricity generation, heat and transportation.

This is not the first or only attempt to turn human waste into fuel. A plan launched in 2013 in Ghana is saving the country’s wetlands by turning human waste into fuel and fertilizer. Earlier this month a British bus began running earlier this month, powering its way from Bristol to Bath on human and food waste.

On space missions, however, where waste disposal is a problem and every ounce of weight carried by a spacecraft is incredibly expensive the technology is revolutionary. It could allow missions to travel further for less money by converting the astronauts food, ultimately, into fuel.

The University of Florida study was published in the journal Advances in Space Research.