Barbie: Not Just a Fashion Icon, But Also A ... Lunar Dust Buster?

Researchers at the Washington State University (WSU) employed the popular fashion doll “Barbie,” made by Mattel Inc MAT, to devise a new method to remove lunar dust off astronauts ahead of their next moon mission.

What Happened: The researchers blasted Barbies donning spacesuits of a material similar to those used by NASA spacesuits with liquid nitrogen to test its potential to remove lunar dust.

The method was effective, removing 95.9% of particles below 10 μm with minimal damage to the spacesuit.

“Lunar dust particles pose a danger to astronaut health, and mixing this dust with technology is like running coarse sandpaper over billion-dollar instrumentation and equipment,” NASA explains.

Previously, on Apollo missions, traditional technologies like brushing, and vacuuming was used. However, these introduced suit fabric abrasion, noted the study published in the journal Acta Astronautica.

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“Given international plans to return to the lunar surface, spacesuit dust mitigation is necessary,” the researchers said.

Last week, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency named the four astronauts who will be part of their Artemis II mission. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be part of the 10-day Artemis II mission around the Moon to become the first humans to venture farthest from the Earth’s low earth orbit since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Artemis II is scheduled for November 2024.

The first Artemis mission was an unmanned moon-orbiting mission besides Astronaut Snoopy — a five-ounce plush doll of the beloved animated canine in a NASA-designed spacesuit.

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