Scientists are working on making cleaner underwear for astronauts

What are the three most fundamental human needs? It consists of food, clothes, and shelter. However, the issue of clean underwear becomes more important for astronauts. Because there are no washing machines onboard space stations, and bringing too many of them is not an option due to luggage weight limits, astronauts must wear the same pair several times.

In a press release, the European Space Agency stated that it is investigating how to maintain beneath layers of clothes clean and sanitary when people go to the moon and beyond. For this effort, they are partnering with the Vienna Textile Lab. Experts say that their long-term use can provoke skin irritation, while the metals themselves may tarnish over time. To provide an alternative, scientists have collaborated with the Vienna Textile Lab. 

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The Agency stated that the first thing spacewalkers put on is a (disposable) ‘Maximum Absorbency Garment,' followed by their own ‘Thermal Comfort Undergarment,' and finally the long-underwear-like Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG). The LCVG includes liquid cooling tubes and gas ventilation to keep users cool and comfortable throughout continuous physical exertion of work in a hard vacuum.

The LCVG, as well as the spacesuits themselves, are reused by various spacewalkers, according to the statement. With such long-term collaboration in mind, the European Space Agency (ESA) has launched a new project dubbed ‘Biocidal Advanced Coating Technology for Reducing Microbial Activity.' The use of antimicrobial elements such as silver or copper, whose ions in the presence of oxygen or water disturb the normal functioning of microbial physiology, is the usual technique of preventing biological contamination.

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• European Space Agency
• Space
• Underwear
• Vienna Textile Lab
• Undergarments