You can't fart in the space station? Are these rumors about astronauts true?

Living in a "mansion" worth tens of billions, but unable to order takeout. A "cosmic view room" where you can watch 16 sunrises a day, but you can't even open the window...

On the Chinese space station 400km above the ground, the daily life of astronauts is very different from that on Earth. There are also many interesting sayings about the lives of astronauts, some of which are more or less true, while others are completely fabricated. Today we will sort out some of them and see whether the sayings about the daily life of astronauts are reliable or not.

Since the space station is a closed environment and it is not easy to replenish supplies, when living on it, one must first pay attention to "environmental protection" and try to reduce the pollution of the cabin environment; second, pay attention to "saving" and try to avoid unnecessary consumption. Knowing these two points, it will be easier to understand the content of this article. Let's officially start.

01

Is it true that you can’t fart in the space station?

This is a really strong rumor, saying that there are flammable gases in farts, which may cause fires in the space station, so farts cannot be discharged at will in the space station... Fortunately, it is just an over-interpretation, not a fact. Why do you say that?

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We expel a lot of gas from the end of the digestive tract every day, including air entrained when we eat food, and various gases produced by the metabolism of our intestinal microorganisms, including hydrogen and methane. Both of these are flammable and explosive. If they are not handled, excessive accumulation in the air does pose a risk of fire.

However, engineers have already considered these problems and installed an air quality control system on the space station, which can provide clean air for the space station to ensure the survival of astronauts. In addition to continuously producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide, this system can also absorb and process other trace amounts of harmful gases, including methane and so on.

However, fire prevention is no problem, but odor prevention is a bit difficult. If someone on Earth accidentally farts, it can easily dissipate with the wind, but on the space station, due to weightlessness, air circulation is relatively slow. If you fart far away from the vent of the air circulation system, it is easy to form a fart "field", making the odor last. Similarly, this is why astronauts have to have a fan next to them when they sleep - if the exhaled carbon dioxide is not blown away in time, the astronauts may suffocate from the exhaust gas they exhale.

In addition, people expel more gas every day in space than on Earth. Therefore, in order to reduce the burden on the space station and improve the environment of the space station, astronauts' rations often choose foods that are less likely to produce gas.

To sum up, while it is necessary to reduce the amount of farts and deal with them properly on the space station, there is really no need to hold every one of them...

02

Is it true that astronauts can’t take off their socks?

This statement is basically true, for the following reasons:

We shed a lot of small parts every day, including about 3 grams of dandruff. In the space station, due to the relatively dry environment, dandruff is easy to form. The feet are particularly prone to peeling because of the thicker stratum corneum and fewer sebaceous glands.

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And because the space station is in a state of weightlessness, the shavings will not fall down like they would on Earth, but will float around in the space station until they are filtered out by the air quality control system. But before that, the shavings are likely to be inhaled by others or stuck to some equipment.

Therefore, for the air quality of the space station, everyone must wear socks to prevent dandruff from flying around. When changing socks, you must also be gentle to avoid accidentally sending a lot of dandruff flying into the air.

03

Do astronauts need to remove their nails before going into space?

This is really a complete rumor.

Such rumors usually say that in the vacuum of space, nails will fall off directly and cause pain, and wounds will appear. It is very difficult to treat wounds in space, so nails need to be removed in advance to avoid wounds and infections. To make up such rumors, it can be said that the imagination is indeed rich but the knowledge is slightly insufficient...

Astronauts mainly move around inside the spacecraft. Even if they need to leave the spacecraft, the space suits have gloves. How can they expose their fingers directly to the vacuum? Besides, pulling out the nails will cause wounds, and the mission time in space is very long, and the nails will grow back. Do they have to be treated again?

This rumor may have originated from a study in 2010, which found that due to the design problems of some space suit gloves, some astronauts with larger hands are more likely to suffer injuries to their fingers and nails due to squeezing, which may cause nails to fall off in severe cases. However, with the improvement of the design of space suit gloves, this kind of problem has disappeared.

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In addition, if you pay attention to the astronauts teaching in the Tiangong classroom, or look closely at the images of the astronauts leaving the cabin after a successful landing, you will find that their nails are obviously in good condition, they are just trimmed very neatly and smoothly - yes, of course you can trim your nails in the space station, just keep the cut nails away to prevent them from flying around.

04

Is the environment around the astronauts very quiet?

Some people think that there is no air in space, so sound cannot be transmitted, and astronauts should not be able to hear any sound in the space station, but in fact it is just the opposite. For example, when teaching in the Tiangong classroom, if you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of various equipment running.

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It turns out that space itself is very quiet, but in order to ensure the normal work and life of astronauts, the space station needs a variety of system support. For example, ventilation and purification in the cabin require the fan to run continuously, which will generate a certain amount of noise. In addition, other equipment such as the operation of space experimental instruments, ventilation and heat dissipation, pumps, motors, electric valves, etc. will also generate a certain amount of noise. When the space station changes orbit, the engine will also generate noise. Astronauts will also generate noise when moving in the cabin.

If astronauts work in a noisy environment for a long time, it will not only affect their work efficiency, but also endanger their health. Therefore, it is also necessary to deal with the noise problem when designing the space station. Astronauts sometimes use earplugs, noise-canceling headphones and other equipment to reduce noise.

It seems that although the daily life of astronauts in space is very wonderful, there are also many difficulties. I wish our three astronauts to complete their mission as soon as possible, return safely and have a good rest.

Author | Ding Zong

Review | Liu Yong, Ambassador of China's Space Science Popularization, researcher and doctoral supervisor at the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Science from the University of New Hampshire, Director of the China Science Writers Association, Special Expert of the Space Science and Technology Education Alliance

Editor | Ding Zong

This article is produced by the "Science Rumor Refutation Platform" (ID: Science_Facts). Please indicate the source when reprinting.

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