Washington State University
Assembly Line
Barbie's surprising role in Moon exploration
In recent experiments, scientists used the dolls to test methods of removing Moon dust from spacesuits. Wearing a tailor-made spacesuit, Barbie was coated in volcanic ash by a team from Washington State University and sprayed with liquid nitrogen. They found this technique is more effective than previous cleaning methods.
Wells and the team from Washington State University were inspired to tackle this problem following research into the “Leidenfrost effect”. This physical phenomenon is akin to dropping water onto a hot saucepan, causing the water droplets to bounce around the surface, propelled and encapsulated by their own evaporating vapour.