The biggest danger to astronauts on the moon has been chosen: It will be hidden under their feet

In the late 60s – early 70s of the last century, astronauts who visited the moon learned how dangerous lunar dust can be. Particles of this dust have an uneven, pointed surface and also adhere very strongly to spacesuits. Even more than 50 years ago, lunar regolith was causing breathing problems for space travelers and malfunctioning of spacecraft equipment. Inverse writes that this issue remains one of the top issues NASA has to solve as part of the new Artemis lunar program.

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Two years later, the first manned mission since 1972 will go to the Moon. At the end of this decade, the Gateway lunar space station should be established in the orbit of the Moon and a permanent research base should be established on the Earth satellite. near future. This base will be the basis for a large future colony.

In a new paper published in Acta Astronautica, scientists from the US and Europe present their findings on how dangerous lunar dust will be for the Gateway space station and how this problem can be solved.

When meteorite-shaped asteroid fragments fall to Earth, almost all of them burn up thanks to the atmosphere. But there is no such atmosphere on the Moon, and for millions of years meteorites fell on its surface, forming a huge layer of dust – lunar regolith. There is no wind or rain on the Moon to “process” the dust particles, leaving them jagged and sharp-edged. Also, interaction with solar plasma fluxes led to these particles being electrostatically charged and thus adhered to electrically charged surfaces. So they stick to astronauts’ spacesuits and can damage them. Also, dust can get into clothing and cause respiratory problems that occur more than once during the Apollo program missions. Also, lunar regolith can damage spacecraft vehicles, as has happened in the past.

According to scientists, manned flights to the moon will become frequent and regular in the near future, so the problem of lunar dust is one of the most important issues to be addressed.

In particular, scientists believe that lunar dust, which astronauts will return from the lunar surface before being sent to Earth, will pose a major problem for the lunar space station. Of course, dust can also damage space suits and cause health problems for astronauts, and something needs to be done about it. And the Gateway space station may not survive an operational life of 15 years.

Scientists believe that NASA should take this fact into account when designing the space station and pay special attention to the design of the future gateway from the Moon to the spacecraft. Therefore, it is necessary to find a way to take disinfection measures for both the astronauts themselves and the vehicles coming from the Moon. In this way, the negative effect of the lunar regolith on the space station can be prevented. On the other hand, new research needs to focus on finding a way to avoid the effects of lunar dust on both the astronauts themselves and objects placed on the Moon.

From this it follows that the development of our satellite is, to put it mildly, a very difficult task and many problems will have to be solved.

As already written FocusIn the future, astronauts and spacecraft on the Moon may look for signs of life on our desert satellite. Microorganisms on the Moon may have come from Earth and took root there, a new study shows.

As I wrote earlier, when it comes to life on other planets Focus, scientists believe that living microorganisms on Venus could exist not on its surface, but in the atmosphere. And there are arguments for that.