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
A few reasons. First is that not all bacteria will die when exposed to space. Second is that exposing clothes to vacuum doesn’t remove any dirt or grime, so clothes aren’t actually getting clean. Third is that there’s not really any place to do that. Between visiting spacecraft and spacewalks taking place, the station’s airlocks are mostly in use. Also, it’s a waste of air to have to depressurize and repressurize an airlock every time you want to do this, which again, won’t actually clean anything. It’s really just more effective to do it the way they do it now, which is to wear clothes until they’re done and then dispose of them and replace them.
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