Mars astronauts may do laundry with a plasma “laundry gun”

Researchers at NASA and the University of Alabama in Huntsville are developing a device that blasts fabrics with cold plasma to kill odor-causing microbes. The aim: make long-duration missions to the moon or Mars more livable, since current space laundry metho

For astronauts heading farther than low Earth orbit. laundry isn’t a minor inconvenience—it’s a practical limit on how long missions can stay comfortable. On the International Space Station. crew members typically wear the same clothes for days and then pack them up to be thrown back toward Earth. where they burn up in the atmosphere. That approach works for shorter stays. But for longer missions, especially ones that aren’t regularly resupplied from Earth, it stops being viable.

A new idea could change that. Gabe Xu. at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. and Chelsi Cassilly. at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. have developed a device that acts like a kind of “laundry gun. ” using cold plasma to sanitize fabrics by killing microbes responsible for unpleasant odors. Xu presented the work at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Wisconsin on 21 May.

The core of the method is the way the device handles microbes. It blasts a mixture of helium, air, and water vapour with powerful bursts of electricity. That process creates ions of oxygen. Those ions then seep into the fabric’s nooks and crannies. where they are absorbed by microbes and kill them through what’s called oxidative stress.

Xu points to a major practical advantage over some alternatives. Ultraviolet light can’t always get the job done because there are microbes that resist UV. But in the team’s experiments, there was nothing that resisted oxidative stress. “There are microbes that are UV resistant. but as far as we can tell from our experiments. there is nothing that is oxidative stress resistant – if you eat poison. it kills you. ” Xu said.

In tests, the purple plasma beam reduced spore colonies on a scrap of cotton fabric from 250,000 colonies per millilitre to about 60,000.

Equally important for space use is what the plasma doesn’t do. Xu said the method does that without damaging the fabric or creating any danger. “When we think of plasma jets we think of lightning bolts or arc welding. which are typically very hot. ” Xu said. “This jet you can put your hand in, you could use it at home.”.

That comparison comes with a reality check, though. Using it at home wouldn’t be efficient either. because the current version sanitises only a patch less than a centimetre wide at a time. Xu and Cassilly are now working toward two more practical designs: a “plasma washing machine. ” where the plasma would be piped into a chamber along with the fabrics being cleaned. and a dual plasma jet-vacuum cleaner that could also be used on surfaces.

The bigger target is life on distant worlds. “When you think about long-term habitats like the moon or Mars. astronauts will probably want a couch to sit on. somewhere nice. but they won’t be able to have that unless they can clean it. ” Xu said. Plasma jets, the researchers argue, could make that kind of ordinary comfort possible.

The sequence of ideas is straightforward: the device creates oxygen ions with cold plasma. the ions penetrate fabric and trigger oxidative stress in microbes. and the results are strong enough to reduce spore colonies while avoiding fabric damage. The next step is scaling up—turning a small. pinpoint sanitiser into equipment that can handle everyday clothing and the surfaces of a habitat.

cold plasma laundry gun oxidative stress International Space Station Mars missions lunar habitats NASA Marshall Space Flight Center University of Alabama in Huntsville microbial disinfection plasma jet