Scary for any would be Moon visitors.
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Dusting the house might be a chore here on Earth, but when astronauts return to the Moon, they'll need to be neat freaks. Their lives might depend on it!
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LINK to story


http://www.universetoday.com/2008/05...tronaut-lungs/

A killer for allergies
I cannot remember offhand which Apollo, but one mission with the Lunar Rover had a severe problem when a Fender on the rover tore.
They had to duct tap it back together to proceed, and make a bit more permanent repairs to it later to use the rover.
The reason being: The wheels of the rover would kick up the lunar dust all over the astronauts.
By the way Brianok- I was stationed in Tusla, Bosna I Herzegovina.

I'd be curious to see a little more detail on the lungs issue. Maybe what I'm thinking are generating a misconception, but I'd like to see how they factor in.
I can see settling being a problem, but I would think it would be dwarfed by the issue of adherence.
I also start thinking that maybe settling is a bad thing if there is a chance of exhaling the dust.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

I understand the worries - astronauts are important people after all. But I´m pretty sure the lunar dust is in no way nastier than what millions of workers are exposed to on a daily basis [asbestos, heavy metals, etc] here on Earth.

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"Shut up and calculate" R. Feynman

Maybe, but there are regulations limiting exposure in the workplace, protective clothing to be worn, and the workers can go home at the end of the day to a clean(er) environment. The Moon workers will have no such option.

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"The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: They don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views." The Doctor, Doctor Who: The Face of Evil.

My first thought was "put showers in the airlocks". Everybody coming in from the surface gets hosed down before cracking the suit. Not only gets the dust off the suit, but out of the air.

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Don´t take it for granted.

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"Shut up and calculate" R. Feynman

That's going to use a lot of water, though, which is probably going to be in short supply on the moon.

Also, will a shower even work that effectively in a low-gravity environment?

I think KK had some kind of pressurized/recycling system in mind.

Edit: BTW Shouldn´t this be under "space Exploration"?

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"Shut up and calculate" R. Feynman

Just look up "silicosis" to see what the astronauts would be up against. The ultra-fine dust would be extremely sharp-edged due to lack of weathering, and would embed deeply in lung tissues. Not a good thing.

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The ether of general relativity therefore differs from that of classical mechanics or the special theory of relativity respectively, in so far as it is not 'absolute', but is determined in its locally variable properties by ponderable matter.

Albert Einstein, "On the Ether", 1924

AFAIK, all three LRVs lost a fender extension during their missions. And astronauts really could have an allergic reaction to moon dust; Harrison Schmitt said this happened to him.

and even more so that they cannot go home to a clean environment. it's 100% of the time.

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"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
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Filter and recirculate the water for the next cleaning. Consider it another cost of doing business.

Must be a quiet week, because when it is someone is sure to drag up a story about how dangerous space travel is. It it is not dust, its radiation. It it is not radiation its zero G. if not zero G then people going pyscho.

All dust is hazardous, period. The risks are well known for a wide range of organic, metallic, mineral and biological particles on Earth. We kno the effects of range of particulate toxic organic and inorganic compounds. We know about volcanic dusts and radioactive dusts. The risks from all of these can be reduced by design and procedure. The Moon is no different.

We can't make the Moon less dusty, but we can reduce the amount brought inside by making sure that the surfaces of space suits and other equipment don't collect excessive dust. This was not done with Apollo.

We can ensure that as much dust as possible is removed before people do inside. Apollo astronauts had little opportunity for this, having only their hands to brush off suits (later missions carried small brushes).

You can reduce dust being carried into living areas by doffing suits in the airlock after cleaning with air jets and suction devices. And designing airlock interiors so they don't collect dust. This was not an option for Apollo.

Airborne dust can be effectively and very efficiently removed by filters. Modern spacrcraft change the air several times and hour. Any airborne dust down to one micron would be removed within minutes. Apollo did not have good filters by modern standards.

Surface dust can be swept or sucked up, or collected with wet wipes. Again not an option with Apollo.

Interior surfaces can be designed for easy cleaning. This too was not done with Apollo.

Lunar dust should not be a problem to properly designed spacecraft and appropriate procedures.

Jon

Which would make a better cleaning system water or air?

With water almost all of the particles would end up on the floor. A sloped floor to a filtration system would make the water reusable for the next EVA. The down side is the effect water could have on the suits and tools.

With air there wouldn’t be any damage to the suits but there is bound to be dust on the walls and floor. When you cleaned the airlock this dust would end up back in the air.

Even the best laid plans don't always work, and I'm sure you're not the only one who has thought of those "solutions". There must be some reason it is still an issue.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
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Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

I suspect the reason this is still an "issue" is three-fold. Researchers looking for funds and journalists having quiet weeks. And maybe opponents of crewed spaceflight wanting to exaggerate risks.

Of course best laid plans don't always work. But do you have any evidence that brushing and suction won't remove excess dust from surfaces? That filters that remove 99% of particles down to 1 micron in a single pass someohow won't cope with lunar dust? That space crew will be such grots that they won't clean themselves and their equipment? That all the components of a layered approach to dust management will fail? That with experiennce even better approaches will no be evolved?

We have enormous experience with effective dust management on Earth, many far more nasty than lunar dust. Dusts that are toxic, radioactive, explosive, carcenogenic, infective, allogenic. Our bodies have effective methods of dealing with dust as well.

But somehow, when its lunar dust, people panic. Without evidence, lunar dust is seen to be far worse than terrestrial dusts. Methods that deal with far more abundant and much nastier dusts somehow won't work. Somehow we won't learn, from Apollo, from terrestrial experience, from that gained by future missions

There are far greater hazards of spaceflight. Catastophic failure of the propulsion or power systems. Decompression, loss of control. All of these have filled people and caused missions to fail. Dust is a low level issue that effects equipment and gives people stuffy noses.

Jon

I'm not comparing lunar dust to terrestrial dust. What I am saying is that even in our cleanest "clean rooms" dust still enters. And those clean rooms take up way more space than a space capsule is ready to share.


Personally I'd take the risk and breath the dust.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
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Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

[quote]I'm not comparing lunar dust to terrestrial dust. What I am saying is that even in our cleanest "clean rooms" dust still enters. And those clean rooms take up way more space than a space capsule is ready to share.

the spacecraft does not have to reach clean room standards, it just has to meet standard requirments for airborne particles. Something that is very easy to do. Easily cleaned surfaces don't mass many more that ones that are not. Brushes and small vacuum cleaners might mass a couple of kg. A months supply of damp cloths a few more. Filters are already built into the spacecraft which would be designed to contemporary standards.


Me too, that is why we have snot!

Jon

you're simplifying things that aren't simple. it's easy to speculate.



let-snot on the moon!

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross