Five scientists are holed up in Houston in NASA’s 3D-printed Mars habitat this summer, and they’re washing their clothes with a special laundry detergent made by Procter & Gamble.
The CHAPEA (Crew Health And Performance Exploration Analog) mission is expected to last a year. They have one machine that is both a washer and a dryer because capturing and preserving water is critical in space.
In 2019, NASA and P&G signed a research agreement enabling the Cincinnati-based company to expand on what it’s been studying for years: ways to wash clothes by using less water and energy.
P&G Senior Director of Research Mark Sivik describes water as gold on the International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts are testing Tide Infinity detergent and stain-removing pens.
The liquid detergent has no fragrances and solvents because water must be reused in space and the astronauts drink the reclaimed water.
In 2021, the consistency of Tide Infinity held up on the ISS. In 2022, Tide To-Go Wipes and Tide To-Go Pens worked to remove stains of sriracha, coffee, olive oil and punch in space.
Astronauts spend a lot of time exercising to preserve muscle mass. On the ISS, they wear the same clothes for three to four days.
Sivik says, “You don’t want to have that funky smell a couple days after you use it, so we’ve focused a lot on that for this detergent system.”
Sivik says with his system crew members can wash 10 pounds of clothing in about three gallons of water. That's less than half of the water in a typical load on earth.
Eventually Procter and Gamble will translate these advances into something we can use here on earthv— soap that removes stains and makes clothes smell better using very little water and requiring less energy.
