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From left, Daisy Li, Suzanna Tesfamichael, Leslie Browning-Samoni, and Sunny Yusufji.
When you think about NASA and space exploration, your mind probably jumps to rocket engines, zero-gravity experiments, or astronauts floating in their bulky suits. But behind the scenes, one of the most overlooked battlegrounds for moon missions and Mars plans isn’t the cockpit — it’s the seams of a spacesuit.
That’s where a pioneering team of undergraduates from TCU’s Departments of Fashion Merchandising and Chemistry recently found themselves, racing to solve a surprisingly terrestrial problem: how to stop lunar dust from sneaking through the tiniest seams of astronaut suits during moonwalks.
The team — mentored by Leslie Browning-Samoni and made up of students Adelaide Lovett, Sunny Yusufji, Suzanna Tesfamichael, and Daisy Li — traveled to Houston’s Johnson Space Center to compete in the Technology Collaboration Center (TCC) Wearables Workshop and University Challenge. The event was part of NASA’s Spaceflight Human Optimization Conference, a gathering that pushes the boundaries of human spaceflight safety and innovation.
Their mission: design seam constructions that could prevent the infamous, ultra-fine lunar dust from infiltrating suits’ inner layers — a small detail with big consequences. Lunar dust is notoriously abrasive and clings to everything, threatening astronauts’ health and instruments.
“I never imagined the complexity behind spacesuit layers until this project,” Lovett says. An EVA (extravehicular activity) suit isn’t just one garment but a stack of 12 layers, each serving a unique function.
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With less than two months — and only about two and a half weeks of hands-on time — the team had to design, fabricate, and test seam samples. NASA-grade fabrics are tightly controlled, so they substituted with Teflon-coated fabrics, Kevlar, and urethane coatings.
Fashion merchandising students crafted seam constructions while chemistry and engineering students led testing, including dust penetration analysis and microscopic imaging. A NASA mentor, Felix Arwin from the Soft Goods Lab, added credibility and guidance.
Their efforts earned them the competition’s Best Innovation award.
“The next steps involve refining our research and working toward trials with actual NASA-grade fabrics,” says Browning-Samoni, who is pursuing grants to continue the work, including tests using Martian dust.
But innovation isn’t cheap. Browning-Samoni estimates the College of Fine Arts and the fashion merchandising department invested nearly $10,000 — covering materials like lunar regolith simulant, rock tumblers to simulate abrasion, and travel costs.
“The NASA lab in Houston doesn’t control for humidity or temperature in testing,” Yusufji notes. “We opted not to include those variables either.”
Each team member brought something unique. “This was my first time working with people outside chemistry,” says Li. “The ‘mutant seam’ design — inspired by our collaboration — is what really set us apart.”
Lovett adds, “I’ve done a lot of group projects, but this one stood out. Everyone listened. Everyone contributed.”
There was no formal leader. “We divided and conquered,” says Tesfamichael. “Adelaide and I focused on creative seam work. Sunny and Daisy led the testing. It only worked because we all owned our roles.”
Browning-Samoni agrees: “Each student stepped up. From crafting samples to presenting at NASA, their cohesion was incredible.”
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And even though it was a competition, the atmosphere was anything but cutthroat. “We saw presentations from six other universities,” she says. “Everyone was genuinely curious about each other’s work. That kind of collegiality is rare.”
Yusufji reflects, “We presented not just to peers, but to professionals and the public at the Space Center. It felt like a glimpse into a future where student research directly informs space exploration.”
Research often follows a punishing trajectory — what Yusufji jokingly refers to as the path from "ignorant optimism" to "the valley of despair." But this project bucked that trend. “With this team,” Yusufji says, “even the setbacks felt manageable. We stayed motivated and upbeat.”
With the Best Innovation award behind them, the team is looking ahead. Their seam designs could one day be tested with space-grade fabrics or adapted for Martian conditions. More importantly, the experience has sparked something bigger — a vision for a self-sustaining undergraduate research program at TCU that blurs the lines between fashion, science, and exploration.
“Space fashion isn’t about glamor,” Tesfamichael says. “It’s about survival — and that makes every stitch count.”
