Meet the P&G Innovator Doing Laundry in Space

Mark Sivik, Senior Director of Fabric & Home Care Research
Meet Mark Sivik, 30-year P&G veteran and Senior Director of Fabric & Home Care Research. Over the decades, Sivik has been instrumental in the discovery of home and fabric care breakthroughs, including the cleaning polymer technology for Dawn that helps to remove spilled oil and contaminates from wildlife, as well as Tide Infinity — a detergent that has been used in space.

At CES 2023, Sivik spoke with astronauts via a live feed from the International Space Station (ISS) about their unique cleaning needs and how the insights gleaned from developing detergents for long-term and deep-space missions can inform conservation efforts on earth.

Working on Tide Infinity for the last two years, Sivik found that the consistency of the detergent held up well on the ISS, Tide To-Go Wipes and Tide To-Go Pens, effectively removing stains from sriracha, coffee, olive oil and punch in space.

Last summer, Sivik was in Houston, Texas, at NASA’s 3D-printed Mars habitat, further refining the formula of Tide Infinity for deep-space missions.

Sivik’s passion for innovation started when he was a teenager. He discovered an aptitude for math and chemistry and developed a desire to use those skills to benefit society.

“Working at Procter & Gamble gave me this opportunity,” he says. “Many of the innovations I have worked on, and the people that work with me across all of our functions, have been able to improve people’s lives around the globe every day.”

But innovation is more than his career. It's also his lifestyle. Outside of work, Sivik engages in hobbies like photography and cooking, using light, perspective, chemistry and presentation to hone his creative skills and innovative mindset.

Click here to get the latest updates from Sivik on P&G’s Tide Infinity.