My understanding of why our clothes stink is because of bacteria eating sweat and dead skin.
So why in space can’t they just “wash” (Edit: By this I mean sterilize.) things by exposing them to the vacuum of space? Wouldn’t the extreme cold and vacuum cause all of the bacteria in the fabric to die out?
I know this is some NASA level stuff but I hope someone can atleast dumb it down to ELI-15 level for me.
In: Chemistry
All species of bacteria differ from each other. Some need oxygen to survive, some don’t. Some prefer super hot temperatures, others cold, others are tolerant of different temperatures. PH and salt preferences differ between bacteria as well. So while being in space would likely kill a lot of bacteria, it wouldn’t necessarily kill them all. Plus, if you wanted to clean a coffee stain, that doesn’t have to do with killing bacteria at all.
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