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Cleaning routines in outer space
14th of May 2025 Article by Lotte Printz
ECJ’s Lotte Printz talks to Danish astrophysicist and podcast host Tina Ibsen on how to clean
a space station.
If you ever had the thought that cleaning while in a weightless state, free from handling heavy cleaning trolleys or other physical strain, would be bliss, you might think again. There’s absolutely nothing to envy astronauts when it comes to cleaning in outer space, and being weightless probably does considerably more harm to the body than any cleaning job on Earth. And so does the space station environment they are part of for several months.
However, this doesn’t mean that there’s nothing for the cleaning industry to learn from the ISS – i.e. the International Space Station.
Weekly clean
Astrophysicist Tina Ibsen, who is also a host on the podcast Space Talk (in translation) and the author of several books on astronomical phenomena, was invited to give a talk and a compelling insight into ‘life’ in space at the annual spring seminar for the Danish cleaning industry in March.
“Everything that takes place on the space station is for the benefit of humankind. Astronauts are merely janitors, laboratory assistants and human guinea pigs,” she says with a smile, speaking to ECJ in its wake.
However, one of their weekly tasks is for their own good as well. Every Saturday all astronauts on the ISS are scheduled to clean for two hours. Mainly cleansing the air vents which, in a ‘chaotic’ weightless environment, are easily filled with old human hair, dead skin, eyelashes and food debris among other things, using vacuum cleaners and wet wipes, as it is vital they are not obstructed.
“Using a vacuum cleaner is not the hard part. Being weightless is. It’s hard physical work simply to be in space, not being able to use your muscles. The muscles diminish, including the heart muscle. And due to the lack of gravity, liquid moves from our legs upwards. So, we say about astronauts that they have skinny legs and puffy heads,” Ibsen explains.
Before going to the space station, astronauts are kept in quarantine for two weeks to leave any diseases behind. And every piece of equipment sent to the space station is either disinfected or irradiated, preventing the spread of viruses. Recent research suggests, however, that space stations may actually be too clean and sterile, which has a negative impact on astronauts’ health.
“That is one of the great problems of staying at the ISS. Immune systems weaken and it often causes skin problems. Microbial diversity actually helps humans, but it has to be the right microorganisms, of course,” Tina Ibsen says and points out that this is beneficial knowledge applicable in hospital cleaning. If hospitals are excessively clean, patients may acquire immune-related health problems such as rashes and cold sores.
Useful knowledge
Denmark is blessed with a high-profile astronaut, Andreas Mogensen, who was on the ISS in both 2015 and 2022 where he was testing water filtration membranes for a Danish company as part of his mission. The results of which may also prove useful for the cleaning industry in the future.
Getting rid of dust does not play a major role in space, though. Quite the contrary in fact.
“In space dust is a good thing. Space is full of dust. In fact, dust is the actual reason why we humans exist as we are made of star dust that comes from supernova explosions,” the scientist explains to the ignorant reporter with a big smile!
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