{"id":112696,"date":"2025-09-02T07:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T07:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/112696\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T07:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T07:57:07","slug":"dirty-laundry-in-space-chinese-team-joins-race-to-develop-washing-machine-for-astronauts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/112696\/","title":{"rendered":"Dirty laundry in space: Chinese team joins race to develop washing machine for astronauts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Astronauts have to get used to many things in <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/chinas-space-programme?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">space<\/a>, including that they cannot wash their dirty clothes.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But researchers in Beijing have proposed a solution: a compact, detergent-free washing machine that cleans clothes with mist and ozone using almost no water \u2013 a limited resource in space.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The cube-shaped device is a bit larger than a carry-on suitcase and weighs 12kg (26lbs), according to the team that developed it from the China Astronaut Research and Training Centre.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">They said it used only 400ml (13 fluid ounces) of water per cycle to clean up to 800 grams (28 ounces) of clothing.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">That water is delivered as an ultra-fine mist through ultrasonic atomisation.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Instead of detergent, the machine uses ultraviolet light to produce ozone, a powerful disinfectant that sterilises clothes for up to five wears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Astronauts have to get used to many things in space, including that they cannot wash their dirty clothes.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,3686,512,80510,129,8523,2725,80512,3369,128,285,56620,38027,80511,80509,2489],"class_list":["post-112696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beijing","tag-china","tag-chinese-journal-of-space-science","tag-earth","tag-international-space-station","tag-mars","tag-national-astronaut-research-and-training-centre","tag-oregon","tag-science","tag-space","tag-tiangong-space-station","tag-tide","tag-ultrasonic","tag-umpqua-research-company","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}