Lunar Dust: A Major Worry for Moon Visitors

smooth wombat writes "Wired has a story which talks about a danger to possible future inhabitants of the Moon that is rarely brought up: the highly abrasive lunar dust. Unlike Earth, the Moon has no erosive capabilities to smooth the edges of rocks or dust. As a result the lunar dust has arms that stick out, like Velcro, and sticks to everything. As the astronauts who walked on the moon found out, the dust scratched lenses and corroded seals within hours. Some of the particles are only microns across which means once they get into your lungs, they stay there. This could cause a lung disease similar to silicosis."

Re:Hmmm

[chimpo13]

Sorry, I accidently RTFA.

The Apollo astronauts couldn't help but get covered in the stuff as they struggled to stay upright on the moon's surface, where the force of gravity is one-sixth of that on Earth. Later, they tracked the dust back into their space capsules and inhaled it when they took off their helmets.

It won't happen again.

Re:Hmmm

[mr.mighty]

This dust could get everywhere. Sooner or later you take off your space suit, you track dust into the biodome on your boots, you park the moon buggy in the garage, etc. Dust just a few microns has the potential to work its way all through air circulation systems, etc. It'll be a nightmare to deal with.

Re:Lung disease in vaccum?

[haydon4]

To speak practiclly, it becomes a problem when the dust gets in the building. Unless, you want to walk around and work with a mask or filter over your face.

Re:Lunar Dust Photos and Explanation

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't mod this guy up. He is a whore for his site. Just look at his history, all he does is post worthless articles that are semi-ontopic that link to his site.

Re:Indoors, silly

[QuantumG]

And he would have known that if he had RTFA. And the person who modded him up would have known that he didn't RTFA if he had RTFA.

Re:Lung disease in vaccum?

[Lord Pillage]

This is this the dumbest comment I've read today.

breathing a vaccum
'dust' in the air

Anything with air, can't be a vacuum.

Re:Lung Disease

[MillionthMonkey]

I think that if you're freely breathing in dust with no protection between you and the lunar surface, you've got bigger issues to worry about than silicosis.

Lunar dust is reported to smell like exploded firecrackers [24.73.239.154], according to a 2002 interview with John Hirasaki, an Apollo recovery technician:

JIM [interviewer]: Did you have to go into isolation prior to the splashdown? If so how long beforehand? Was this done to minimize your exposure to viruses and germs that might have caused alarm if you and/or others in isolation became ill?

JOHN: Dr. Bill Carpentier and I were placed into isolation within the MQF about the same time as the launch of Apollo 11. The reason for our biological isolation was for the reason that you indicated... At the LRL, on our side of the biological barrier, I recall that the Public Affairs Officer joined the five of us to assist in post-flight debriefings and interviews with the news media. Also during our stay in the LRL, we had two laboratory technicians join us at different intervals because of accidental breeches of biological isolation while they were handling lunar samples on their side of the LRL. The LRL itself is a fascinating story that deserves to be told.

JIM: You personally retrieved the Apollo 11 lunar sample containers from Columbia shortly after the Command Module was brought on board the Hornet. Do you have specific memories of entering the spacecraft? Did the boxes look "dusty" or smudged?

JOHN: The first unusual item that I noticed upon entering the Apollo 11 Command Module was a unique scent that reminded me of smell of exploded firecrackers or the scent that you notice when you strike flint together. I had not noticed this scent when I opened other Command Modules following their flights.

The lunar sample return containers were slightly smudged with dust from the surface of the moon but this dust was especially prevalent on the surface of the suits worn by Armstrong and Aldrin. These suits were stored in the Command Module below the crew couches. Traces of the dust appeared on many surfaces since the fine powder like nature of the moon dust inadvertently allowed it to be transferred to other surfaces.

I cannot say that the aroma was a direct result of the "moon dust" being present in the cabin even though that was what I surmised. There could be other explanations for the aroma that are not related to the presence of the dust. After reviewing the post-flight notes from the Apollo 11 mission, there was a comment made during crew debriefing that a "strong odor of burnt material" was noticed following the S-IVB stage separation when the crew opened the CSM tunnel.

Google cache here. [64.233.187.104]

Pressurized...

[KillerBob]

Keeping a survivable environment on the moon is a difficult task, but I don't think I'm too worried about the dust getting in my lungs as the description suggests. Any habitat on the moon will be pressurized. I should hope so, at least.

Anyway, I'm not too worried about that dust getting in my lungs if I ever go to the moon, because of the very same force that keeps an airplane's door closed, and maintains the security of a level 5 biohazard area: air pressure. The pressure in a biohazard area is kept negative, relative to the outside pressure. That way, if there's ever a breach, the outside air will be gushing in, so the viruses won't be able to escape. Likewise, an airplane's door is held closed by the force of the higher air pressure inside the cabin.

The same laws of physics apply on the moon. If I'm wearing a space suit that develops a micro-hole because of this abrasion, I'm not going to be sucking vacuum as it won't be a big enough hole to depressurize the suit. I'm also not going to be worrying about any of this dust getting in the suit, because of the pressure from the air escaping the suit. The same goes for a habitat that's breached. And if the hole is big enough to depressurize the suit, I've got bigger worries than dust in my lungs. :)

As for the initial problem of the abrasiveness, I can think of a possible solution that may or may not work... If there's an outer shell of some kind of flowing liquid held to the structure with electrostatic or magnetic force, would you be all that worried about abrasion? Or if you could generate that electrostatic force in the first place, couldn't you use that to repel the dust?

Re:Lung Disease

[Anonymous Coward]

Odd, that's exactly what volcanic ash smells like. Anyone in the vicinity of Mt. St. Helens during the 1981 eruption wanna join a class-action lawsuit? God has lots of assets.

Re:Lung disease in vaccum?

[cranos]

Move step 4 to step five and replace with 4) Run through standard De-contanimation procedures. Sheesh its not that hard.

playa dust

[capilot]

We should have a betting pool on how many people point out that you're not supposed to breathe outside on the moon. Thanks folks, I never knew that. Seriously, the stuff sounds like playa dust to me, and anybody who's ever been out on the playa knows that you track that stuff in with you all the time. If lunar dust is half as pervasive as playa dust, it's going to take serious decontamination to keep it outside.

Re:Scratched Lenses

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, lets see. For one, there is no wind on the moon, so particles aren't being blown around. Any particles rubbed on lenses and therefore scratching them would be done accidentally by the person handling the equipment.

So in short, no, this does not lend credibility to the idea the moon landings were faked. That idea is still as idiotic as ever, and the people who believe it still don't know anything about physics.

Re: Effects of the colonial era on human diversity

[TGK]

To be fair, the Caribs were (at the time of Colombian Contact) engaged in a genocidal war against the Arawaks.

The Arawaks were the former inhabitants of the Greater Antilles, and were (primarily) a fairly peacefull people that utilized a hybrid hunter-gathering/agrarian system of nomadic farming on the islands.

The Caribs were invaders from the mainland, probably from what is modern day Brazil. They moved up the island chain starting in modern day Trinidad, killing and eating the Arawaks.

While not canibals as a primary food source, the Carib religous thoughts about the consumption of an enemy and the rights of war weren't well received by the Europeans, who set about dispatching them with some urgency.

Re:Okay

[WankersRevenge]

Also, with these particles getting caught in the lungs, isnt the whole "lack of oxygen on the moon" probably, a bigger breathing threat?

Walking on the lunar surface with protective gear prevents this problem until you go inside, and remove the said gear. While you are removing the gear, you are currently breathing in the particles. Think of it like wearing a dry suit while scuba diving ... you are fine in the water, but you are still going to get wet when you get out of your gear.

Re:Pressurized...

[daVinci1980]

Yay. Another +5 Insightful that didn't RTFA. :-\

You seem to have your pressures mixed up. The pressure inside the cabin of an airplane is substantially *higher* then the air pressure outside. (IIRC, the difference is about 15 lbs / in). That would tend to make the cabin door want to burst open, as opposed to staying closed.

Notwithstanding, the article doesn't really discuss the concern of dust getting into the suit. The concern is dust on the suit, which then comes into the lunar facility with the astronaut. The astronaut (lunarnaut?) then takes off his helmet inside the facility and BAM! Lunar dust can now conceivably get into his lungs.

The bigger problem is any lunar dust that makes its way back to the spacecraft. When the craft goes back into space and into zero-g, the particles which were resting on the ground are now floating in the air.

Re:Scratched Lenses

[Anonymous Coward]

>>As an amateur photog, I can attest to how difficult it is to get a photo to look as good as those the lunar landing team took did.

I guess you have never used 70mm film format Hasselblad cameras (with Zeiss lenses no less) in a vacuum! :-)

There is lots of resolution redundancy in that combination!

If you have seen the Kipp Teague, et al, ALSJ scans (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html/ [nasa.gov] - go to the Image Library) - the high resolution images have been very well done and far surpass any printed equivalent I have ever seen.

Re:Toner Research

[schnikies79]

Well for one, they don't use their actual space suits; they are special suits that look/work identical to actual suits made especially for the neutral buoyancy tank.

Yes it has!

[Viol8]

What do you think the astronauts were breathing in their capsule? Sure , it might not have had the exact mix of gases of earths atmosphere but it mixed with O2 which is the most reactive gas in our atmosphere and if it doesn't react with that I don't think anyone will be losing too much sleep over what happens if you mix it with nitrogen or argon. As for it not being in contact with the lungs , well how do you think the astronauts smelt it without beathing in? Perhaps you should read the article first hmm?

Re:Mars?

[Eminence]

• I wonder how this compares to Mars dust.

Logically it shouldn't be like on the Moon since Mars has an atmosphere - it even has dust storms.

But this is one more remainder that decision taken some time ago by NASA to go first to the Moon and then to Mars makes no real sense. This was discussed widely, also on /. but one of the reasons was that Moon would serve as a testing ground for solutions to be used on Mars. As this example shows Moon may require totally different habitats, suits and equipment - in some aspects even up to much higher standards than for Mars.

Re:Live on the Moon? Thank you smokers!

[clarkcox3]

"America" is not a continent. Brazil and Canada are not in "America", they are in "South America" and "North America" respectively.

Additionally, your definition of "the rest of the world" must not include any countries in the Americas besides America. I know several Mexicans, Canadians that would take offense to being called "American".

Re:Hmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

soon Pronunciation Key (sn)
adv. sooner, soonest

1. In the near future; shortly.
2. Without hesitation; promptly: came as soon as possible.
3. Before the usual or appointed time; early.
4. With willingness; readily: I'd as soon leave right now.
5. Obsolete. Immediately.

Idioms:
no sooner than

As soon as: No sooner was the frost off the ground than the work began.

sooner or later

At some time; eventually: Sooner or later you will have to face the facts.

[Middle English sone, from Old English sna, immediately, soon.]

Usage Note: No sooner, as a comparative adverb, should be followed by than not when, as in these typical examples: No sooner had she come than the maid knocked. I had no sooner left than she called.