To confirm how risky lunar dust really is, PhD student Michaela Smith conducted experiments using lunar simulants that mimicked real moon dust. She tested how the dust affected lung cells compared to pollution from a busy Sydney street.
- Good news
- lunar dust may irritate the lungs, but it’s not as harmful as air pollution. Smith’s work is easing NASA’s worries about moon dust as they plan the Artemis 3 mission.
- Forget moon dust being harmful
- turns out breathing in polluted air on a busy street is worse for you than inhaling lunar dust. Professor Brian Oliver from the University of Technology Sydney says this info is a thumbs up for sending humans back to the moon.
During the Apollo missions, astronauts got a taste of lunar dust when it clung to their spacesuits and made its way into their lungs. They suffered from stuffy noses and itchy throats, but nothing too serious. Back on Earth, unpacking the suits caused similar sneezing fits, which got worse after each mission, hinting at the dust’s potential toxicity.
One solution could be having astronauts suit up and de-suit on the lunar lander’s exterior to avoid dragging any dust inside. Thanks to Smith’s findings, moon dust might not be as big of a problem as we thought.
