out-gassing of garment soils in deep space?

Meanwhile, over in a Mars discussion board, the question has been
raised about whether one can clean garments during an inter-panetary
mission, just by exposing them to the vacuum of deep space.
Let us presume that the major soils are body oils of the groin and
axillary areas.

Volatiles will out gas off the fabric... Solids will remain behind...
Many viruses will survive... Bacteria may or may not survive, depending
upon multiple factors... Those buried deep within the feces/sweat
smears will have a partial percentage of survivers... Stains will not
go away... The clothing will not look or feel fresh... You will still
need the magic of detergents and agitation followed by a clean water
rinse, before drying the clothes just like dear old mom did; by
hanging them on the clothes line in the back airlock and cycling it
open on laundry day...
The combination of a hard vacuum and exposure to direct sunlight will
be more effective... The high temperature of the sunshine (dark colors
will probably smoke a bit) and the hard UV radiation is an effective
germicide... Though, your clothing will rapidly fade and become raggedy
under intense UV and Xray bombardment from the Sun...

You can do your own vacuum test out in the garage (though radiation is
a bit harder to simulate) by putting some really nasty underwear in a
can, heating it to 250F, and pulling a hard vacuum on it for a day or
two, then remove the shorts and smear the crotch all over your
tongue... Taste anything?

cheers ... Dr. denny

In sci.physics,

wrote
on 8 May 2005 22:01:26 -0700
.com:
Meanwhile, over in a Mars discussion board, the question has been
raised about whether one can clean garments during an inter-panetary
mission, just by exposing them to the vacuum of deep space.
Let us presume that the major soils are body oils of the groin and
axillary areas.


There is a problem: it gets cold in space. :-) Will a heater
be involved?

--
#191,
It's still legal to go .sigless.

In sci.space.tech, on Tue, 10 May 2005 15:00:09 GMT, The Ghost In The Machine sez:
` In sci.physics,
`
` wrote
` on 8 May 2005 22:01:26 -0700
` .com:
` Meanwhile, over in a Mars discussion board, the question has been
` raised about whether one can clean garments during an inter-panetary
` mission, just by exposing them to the vacuum of deep space.
` Let us presume that the major soils are body oils of the groin and
` axillary areas.
`

` There is a problem: it gets cold in space. :-) Will a heater
` be involved?

Make all the clothes out of teflon, then roast 'em at 300C to clean 'em.


--
================================================== ========================
Pete Vincent
Disclaimer: all I know I learned from reading Usenet.

"pete" wrote in message
...
` There is a problem: it gets cold in space. :-) Will a heater
` be involved?

Make all the clothes out of teflon, then roast 'em at 300C to clean 'em.

Oops! Problem with that. The fumes will kill your parrot, then where will
you be?

Rich S.

pete wrote:
Make all the clothes out of teflon, then roast 'em at 300C to clean 'em.

Sheeshh... You're a *million* miles from any peeping tom... go nude!

;-)

In sci.space.tech, on Thu, 12 May 2005 17:41:52 -0700, Rich S. sez:
` "pete" wrote in message
` ...
` ` There is a problem: it gets cold in space. :-) Will a heater
` ` be involved?
`
` Make all the clothes out of teflon, then roast 'em at 300C to clean 'em.

` Oops! Problem with that. The fumes will kill your parrot, then where will
` you be?

No, afaik the fumes evolve at higher temp (400?, 600?).

--
================================================== ========================
Pete Vincent
Disclaimer: all I know I learned from reading Usenet.

"pete" wrote in message
...
In sci.space.tech, on Thu, 12 May 2005 17:41:52 -0700, Rich S.
sez:
` "pete" wrote in message
` ...
` ` There is a problem: it gets cold in space. :-) Will a heater
` ` be involved?
`
` Make all the clothes out of teflon, then roast 'em at 300C to clean
'em.

` Oops! Problem with that. The fumes will kill your parrot, then where
will
` you be?

No, afaik the fumes evolve at higher temp (400?, 600?).

No, 500° F (260° C). see http://tinyurl.com/cndss
Also http://www.parrotparrot.com/birdhealth/kola.htm

Aye, tis sad to see a pirate wi'out his parrot.

Rich "Arrr" S.

Frank van der Hulst wrote:
pete wrote:
Make all the clothes out of teflon, then roast 'em at 300C to clean
'em.

Sheeshh... You're a *million* miles from any peeping tom... go nude!

;-)

Cute, but like I said in the original thread, there are sanitary
reasons for considering at least minimal clothing, not to mention
protecting the skin from the item being worked on (tool slippage, hot
liquid splahes, abrasion, etc).


It would also be interesting to be able to qunatify how much the
clothing reduces dispersal of dead skin cells and loose hair shafts. We
might end up asking them to wear watch caps in addition to uniforms!

And the crew, for the near future at least, will be taking the peeping
toms along via downlink!


/dps

"pete" wrote

No, afaik the fumes evolve at higher temp (400?, 600?).

Sorry, wrong. The Teflon starts to break down at temps as low as 500
degrees *F* The previous poster was talking about temps in C.

The Teflon puts out tiny fibrous like stuff that floats through the air, and
while it kills Poly, it is none too good on humans, too. Since I have
birds, I have very little Teflon, and when it is used, I watch it like a
hawk. 500F is possible at the heat that barely burns bacon.
--
Jim in NC