If you’ve been to the moon before (and who hasn’t?), you know that the sticky dust covering its surface can damage spacesuits. A spray of liquid nitrogen may offer the best way to remove items while leaving costumes intact, according to new research. Lunar dust, scientifically known as lunar regolith, is different from most natural dust on Earth.

First, the fine particles are highly rough and abrasive, as they are not eroded by wind or water. Also, since the regolith is saturated with solar radiation, it has a positive charge that causes it to stick to whatever it comes in contact with.

During the Apollo missions to the Moon, astronauts discovered that brushes were ineffective at removing regolith from their spacesuits – in fact, the brushing only served to grind the dust. Some garments were effectively rendered unusable after damaging the regolith seals. Needless to say, the particles are not suitable for electronics or engines either. They even caused respiratory problems in some astronauts who survived after returning to Earth.

In search of a more efficient and less harmful alternative to scrubbing and other proposed regolith extraction methods, Washington State University scientists have recently turned their attention to liquid nitrogen.

When an ultra-cold liquid spray was applied to warmer samples of spacesuit material covered with simulated regolith, the dust particles rose upwards and floated away in the nitrogen vapor. This reaction occurred due to what is called the Leidenfrost effect, when a drop of liquid is suspended above the surface of a layer of vapor. This is what works when cold water rises and spreads over the surface of a hot pan. The technique was tested both in normal atmospheric conditions and in a space-like vacuum. It worked on both, but performed better in vacuum, removing 98.4% of dust particles.

Additionally, they survived up to 75 cycles of liquid nitrogen treatment before any damage was noticed, even though just one cleaning of the dust-covered material samples damaged them. Now scientists plan to conduct further tests in conditions that more closely simulate conditions on the Moon’s surface. Assoc. Professor Jacob Leachman – recently published in the journal Acta Astronautica.