In space, no one can hear you make a robot vacuum do your share of the cleaning.
A lot of us are in spring cleaning mode these days, but for astronauts, that’s kind of every day.
You can’t leave crumbs out on your plate after dinner, or leave old hair in the shower, cause that stuff will start floating around with you!
It takes a lot of regular work to keep clean in Earth orbit, including scrubbing, collecting trash and vacuuming.
No laundry, as astronaut clothes are treated as disposable, but still, not an easy job.
And the astronauts have to do it themselves; there’s no cleaning crew in space.
And even with all that regular cleaning, there are lots and lots of microbes floating around, potentially creating a health risk down the road.
Enter a company called GermFalcon that specializes in sanitizing the interiors of airplanes.
They’re now testing a system that would clean the interior of spacecrafts or the International Space Station with ultraviolet rays.
And it would be autonomous, like robot vacuum cleaners today.
Basically a space Roomba, or close to one.
Though, really, to be a real space Roomba it would need to have a space cat riding on top.
Special shout out today to my friends in one of my favorite cities in the whole world, Buffalo, New York.
The Monday after Easter is the Polish holiday with the unforgettable name of Dyngus Day.
Buffalo is having its usual giant celebration, with a parade, people using squirt guns on each other, hitting each other with pussy willows, listening to polka music.
And I hear there may be a few beers involved. Not sure on that.
This Space Roomba Could Clean the ISS While Astronauts Sleep (Futurism)
Not Polish? Don’t worry – here’s how to celebrate Dyngus Day (The Buffalo News)
Photo by Barb via Flickr/Creative Commons