Low-water Clothing Sanitation Technologies

Potential Commercial Applications: Medical, Sports, Department of Defense, communities with limited water resources, remote communities/third world nations and others. Keywords: clothing sanitation, remote operations, low-water Purpose: NASA JSC seeks like-minded partners to cooperatively develop (Co-develop) low-water clothing sanitation technologies for humans. There are no water based laundry or clothes washing systems on the International Space Station (ISS) and none are currently planned for long duration human space missions due to the large amount of power, mass, water, and volume needed. Since the current method of discarding clothing after use on the ISS won't be an option for deep space missions, new and novel techniques or systems are highly desired. Any method or system that will extend the life of the clothing by removing odors and sanitizing the clothing would also be useful. NASA seeks unique ideas, knowledge sharing opportunities, or potential partnership arrangements. This technology may be of interest to other industries such as medical equipment developers or consumer appliance manufacturers as well as other government agencies such as the Department of Defense. Partners can potentially benefit from NASA's unique capabilities, technology advancements, and expertise. In addition, new Intellectual Property (IP) may be created through a collaboration that would enable the partner to commercialize the technology for other applications such as hospital sterilization, deep field military expeditions, remote communities / third-world countries, or any other remote operation where a steady supply of clothing is impractical or where water resources are scarce. R&D Status: Limited progress has been made in developing waterless laundry systems for crew exercise clothing. Low level feasibility tests have been performed exposing clothing to vacuum, UV light, ozone, or supercritical carbon dioxide. Some level of success has been reached for small samples in the lab. NASA is also currently investigating using microwaves to clean / treat clothing. To respond to this announcement, please use the Statement of Interest Form copy and paste link https://nasajsc.secure.force.com/StatementofInterest To view all Co-Development and Partnering Opportunities with the NASA Johnson Space Center please visit our website, copy and paste link http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/partnerships/JSC-Partnership-Gateway