How To Keep Clean In Your Space Station
Getting the cleaners to put the trash in a black bag and dropping it out of the back door is just not an option. In fact you're limited in a lot of ways as you are, in the words of the song, sitting in a tin can, floating out in space. So if you are one of that select group of individuals known as astronauts, how do you cope with cleaning in the confines of a space station?
Hygiene is an incredibly high priority when two or more people are living in the weightless confines of a space station . The area they occupy is little more than an average kitchen and living room combined and the astronauts can be there for weeks at a time, sleeping, eating, working, toileting and bathing in the close confinement. If one of them were to get sick, the chances of them all being infected are high, and while a tummy bug can be unpleasant here on earth, in a space station it would be a serious and unpleasant hazard. So the best solution is to be such scrupulous cleaners that the problem never occurs.
There are two aspects to the task for the astronauts, keeping their bodies clean and keeping the environment clean.
Personal Hygiene
Each astronaut has his own personal hygiene kit that is never shared. It includes all the usual items of toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, comb, razors and any other necessary items, and it is for that individuals use only. This is to eliminate the risk of passing germs between members of the crew, which is particularly important as germs multiply faster in space and any sickness could spread very quickly.
As you can imagine, living in such a small space for extended periods can lead to seriously smelly bodies so cleaning and showering, while rationed to limit the use of resources, is really important. The shower is a large cylinder, which has a plastic sleeve around it to prevent the water from floating away. The astronauts soap themselves down, and rinse off with a water nozzle. Hair is washed using a rinse free shampoo that doesn't need showering away. Once cleaned, the astronauts use a vacuum attachment to suck up the water from their skin and any that is floating around in the shower cylinder. The water is then filtered and recycled, ready to be used again.
Clothing
Washing clothes would be too big a task on a space station. A washing machine would be a heavy piece of equipment to include in the structure, and be too big a drain on the stations resources of water and electricity. The most efficient solution is in fact just not to bother. All clothing is considered disposable, and once worn for two days is simply discarded. The clothes are simply bagged and stored, to be dealt with once they return to earth.
Toileting
A space station doesn't have the capacity for a sewage system or a septic tank, so going to the toilet is bit different from back home on earth. Because of the low gravity, the toilet uses air suction rather than water to flush away the waste. The solid and liquid waste is captured and the air then goes through a filtration system to take out the bacteria and odours. The cleaned and purified air then returns to circulation in the cabin, the liquid is ejected in to space and any remaining solid waste, which would be an unpleasant companion to have floating around outside the station, is stored for return to earth.
Keeping the Environment Clean
Cleaning the space in which the astronauts live is not too dissimilar to the chore at home, it's just they have to be more strict about keeping up with the job. Each member of the crew takes their turn on a cleaning rota, which includes cleaning every surface throughout the station, collecting and bagging rubbish and cleaning the air filters. The cleaners they use on surfaces are biocides to make sure no micro-organisms are allowed to survive, and a vacuum cleaner is used to clean the air filters as well as the cabin area.
Hygiene is an incredibly high priority when two or more people are living in the weightless confines of a space station . The area they occupy is little more than an average kitchen and living room combined and the astronauts can be there for weeks at a time, sleeping, eating, working, toileting and bathing in the close confinement. If one of them were to get sick, the chances of them all being infected are high, and while a tummy bug can be unpleasant here on earth, in a space station it would be a serious and unpleasant hazard. So the best solution is to be such scrupulous cleaners that the problem never occurs.
There are two aspects to the task for the astronauts, keeping their bodies clean and keeping the environment clean.
Personal Hygiene
Each astronaut has his own personal hygiene kit that is never shared. It includes all the usual items of toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, comb, razors and any other necessary items, and it is for that individuals use only. This is to eliminate the risk of passing germs between members of the crew, which is particularly important as germs multiply faster in space and any sickness could spread very quickly.
As you can imagine, living in such a small space for extended periods can lead to seriously smelly bodies so cleaning and showering, while rationed to limit the use of resources, is really important. The shower is a large cylinder, which has a plastic sleeve around it to prevent the water from floating away. The astronauts soap themselves down, and rinse off with a water nozzle. Hair is washed using a rinse free shampoo that doesn't need showering away. Once cleaned, the astronauts use a vacuum attachment to suck up the water from their skin and any that is floating around in the shower cylinder. The water is then filtered and recycled, ready to be used again.
Clothing
Washing clothes would be too big a task on a space station. A washing machine would be a heavy piece of equipment to include in the structure, and be too big a drain on the stations resources of water and electricity. The most efficient solution is in fact just not to bother. All clothing is considered disposable, and once worn for two days is simply discarded. The clothes are simply bagged and stored, to be dealt with once they return to earth.
Toileting
A space station doesn't have the capacity for a sewage system or a septic tank, so going to the toilet is bit different from back home on earth. Because of the low gravity, the toilet uses air suction rather than water to flush away the waste. The solid and liquid waste is captured and the air then goes through a filtration system to take out the bacteria and odours. The cleaned and purified air then returns to circulation in the cabin, the liquid is ejected in to space and any remaining solid waste, which would be an unpleasant companion to have floating around outside the station, is stored for return to earth.
Keeping the Environment Clean
Cleaning the space in which the astronauts live is not too dissimilar to the chore at home, it's just they have to be more strict about keeping up with the job. Each member of the crew takes their turn on a cleaning rota, which includes cleaning every surface throughout the station, collecting and bagging rubbish and cleaning the air filters. The cleaners they use on surfaces are biocides to make sure no micro-organisms are allowed to survive, and a vacuum cleaner is used to clean the air filters as well as the cabin area.
