Recruitment firm helps astronauts stay clean in space

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology

ISSN: 0002-2667

Article publication date: 1 March 2006

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Keywords

Citation

(2006), "Recruitment firm helps astronauts stay clean in space", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 78 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2006.12778bab.027

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Recruitment firm helps astronauts stay clean in space

Recruitment firm helps astronauts stay clean in space

Keywords: Aerospace engineering, Space technology

Keeping clean in space is not straightforward, but thanks to sponsorship from aerospace recruitment specialists, Jonathan Lee Recruitment and the efforts of 24-year- old Angelo Grubisic, astronauts on future manned space missions could be taking an in-flight shower!

Space shower operation is not only hazardous for the station or vehicle (since free-floating water is capable of shorting electronics equipment), but it is also potentially dangerous for the astronaut, since in zero gravity, inhalation of water can be lethal.

Angelo is a master of space studies and part of the four-strong Team Lotus Shower, who fought off international competition to gain a place on the zero gravity test programme on board the European Space Agency's Student Parabolic Flight Campaign.

They tested a one-third scale model of the shower after the concept had been commended by the European Space Agency. The shower design utilises a heated cyclone air system and super-hydrophobic shower surfaces to minimise the amount of water adhering to the walls of the shower after use and then to dry it as quickly as possible before the astronaut leaves the cabin.

The International Space University, where all four students have just completed their masters in space studies, gave the students the opportunity to meet the actual astronauts who used these space station facilities in the past. As a result, the students learned first hand the difficulties encountered when trying to maintain hygiene conditions in long duration space flight.

Angelo has also discovered that he is potential astronaut material as he was the only member of his team not to suffer sickness after the experience! He was the only British student at the International Space University and was selected on the basis of his academic and personal achievements from a large contingent of students. He is now pursuing a PhD in advanced propulsion.

A reduced gravity environment for microgravity testing is obtained by flying a specially modified Airbus A300 through a series of parabolic manoeuvres, giving microgravity in the order of 10-2 g. In parabolic flight, the aircraft is put into a sub-orbital trajectory providing free-fall, or weightlessness for up to 22s. This is not a simulation. The weightlessness, other than duration, is the same as that experienced by astronauts on orbital missions.

Each four-hour flight provides 30 parabolas to test the performance of the space shower in zero gravity conditions. In an aircraft weighing over 150 ton, going into a 45° climb followed by a 45° dive pulling 1.8 g is not for the feint hearted!

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