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When Apollo's astronauts came back from the moon, the dust that clung to their space suits made their throats angry and their eyes teary. Lunar dust is made of sharp, abrasive and unpleasant particles, but what is the toxicity to humans?
The "Lunar Fiel", as described by NASA astronaut Harrison Schmitt during the Apollo 17 mission, created symptoms among the 12 people who walked on the moon. From sneezing to nasal congestion, in some cases, it took days for the reactions to fade. Moon missions left an unanswered question of lunar exploration – an issue that could affect the next steps of humanity in the solar system: can lunar dust endanger human health?
An ambitious ESA A research program with experts from all over the planet now addresses the problems of lunar dust
"We do not know how bad this dust is, it all depends on an effort to estimate the degree of risk involved, "says Kim Prisk, a pulmonary physiologist from the University of California with over 20 years of experience in manned spaceflight – one of 12 scientists participating in ESA research
Unpleasant dust
in him, a material commonly found on planetary bodies with volcanic activity. Miners on Earth suffer from inflamed lungs healed by silicate inhalation. On the Moon, the dust is so abrasive that it has devastated the layers of space boots and destroyed the vacuum sealed containers Apollo
Fine as powder, but sharp as glass. The low gravity of the moon, a sixth of what we have on Earth, allows tiny particles to stay in suspension longer and penetrate deeper into the lungs.
"Particles 50 times smaller than a human hair The potential damage caused by the inhalation of this dust is unknown, but research shows that lunar soil simulators can destroy lung and brain cells after a long period of time. Exposure
Towards the Particle
On Earth, fine particles tend to straighten during years of erosion by wind and water, but the lunar dust n & # It is not round, but acute and thorny. ] The toxic side of the moon “/>
In addition, the moon does not have an atmosphere and is constantly bombarded by radiation from the sun that causes an electrostatic charge of the ground.
This charge can be so strong that the dust is lev- above the lunar surface, which makes it even more
Dusty Workplace
To test the equipment and behavior of lunar dust, the ESA will use Simulated dust from the Moon extracted from a volcanic region in Germany. 19659005] Working with the simulant is not an easy task. "The rarity of the glass-shaped lunar material makes it a special type of dust, we need to grind the source material, but that means removing the sharp edges," says Erin Tranfield, a biologist and expert on dust toxicity [19659005thesoilhasagoodside"YoucanheatittoproducebricksthatcanprovidesheltertoastronautsOxygencanbeextractedfromthegroundtosupporthumanmissionsonthemoon"saysAidanCowleyScientificAdvisor
Learn more:
Breathing lunar dust could pose a health risk to future astronauts
