How is it that we can send people to space, but we still can’t use a urinal without fear of being spattered in tiny droplets of piss?

Although there have been some truly memorable urinal advancements over the last few decades — Tinkle Targets, we’re looking at you — splashback is still a hazard for guys peeing in any public/office bathroom, no matter how carefully they aim.

Thankfully, then, and to the relief of khaki wearers everywhere, a team of academics led by Dr. Zhao Pan at the University of Waterloo published a recent research paper in the PNAS Nexus journal that’s a bold step toward eradicating splashback for good.

The paper is actually a pretty fascinating read, opening with a brief history of the stone-carved urinals found in ancient monasteries of Sri Lanka, as well as the proliferation of pissoirs in 20th century Paris. The most famous urinal, however, is still the porcelain bowl, known as The Fountain, created by surrealist Marcel DuChamp in 1917, which the authors point out wouldn’t be out of place in the public restrooms of today.

So much has changed over the last century — including attention to public hygiene — but little imagination has been spent on transforming public piss receptacles. Men of the 1900s might have been fine with getting tiny puddles of pee spattered across their trousers, but don’t we want more than that for ourselves today? Plus, splashback isn’t just annoying; it “generates unhygienic environments, high cleaning costs and adds an unpleasant workload for custodial staff,” the researchers write. Not to mention, less clean-up means less water usage, and therefore a small win for the planet.

So, what’s the solution?

In order to find out, these intrepid urinary explorers had to first do some pretty complex-looking calculations to identify a “non-splash critical impinging angle.” Or more simply put, at what angle does the piss hit the porcelain? More importantly, what’s the ideal angle to stop the dreaded splashback?

In case you’re interested, anything hitting the bowl at less than a 30-degree angle generates a 95-percent reduction in splash, meaning your brand new jeans are less likely to get caught in the crossfire.

Armed with this knowledge, the researchers proposed two novel urinal designs — the slightly vaginal “Cornucopia” and the narrow, low-to-the-ground “Nautilus.” Incredibly, putting them to the test required the usage of a “pseudo-urethra nozzle matching the internal geometry of a human urethra,” which spurted out jets of dyed water into the urinals, making the splashback easier to see.

Both designs were a hit, with the Nautilus scoring extra points for accessibility due to its low height. “The Nautilus tolerates poor aim,” they concluded, “and as such it may prove beneficial on aircrafts and boats where the stability cannot be taken for granted.”

It remains to be seen whether these nearly splashback-free designs ever make it into public restrooms, but at least we all now know the golden angle to avoid the dreaded piss shower.

Take aim, boys.