Lunar Dustbusters

Maggie McKee writes "Moon dust could be a source of oxygen and metals. But moon dust could also lodge in astronauts' lungs, possibly triggering long-term health effects. During the relatively short Apollo Moon landing missions nearly 40 years ago, astronauts reported difficulty breathing. So now, before astronauts return to the moon in 2020, NASA is working on a number of ways to reduce the amount of lunar dust astronauts are exposed to — from simple grates on the floor to magnetic wands and giant lint rollers."

Comments

Re:why not spend 1 billion on asteroid location

[Garrett Fox]

This article was about Lunar dust, and it turns into a denunciation of the Iraq War? It would be equally justified to say "We can't afford it because we're spending so much on the prescription drug program/the war on drugs/illegal immigration policy/any other spending item," but instead we pin everything on the war.

Re:why not spend 1 billion on asteroid location

[franksands]

And yet, Bush won easily in his "re-election". But, hey, that's a lot better than gay marriage, right?

Obvious answer

[huckamania]

Take a look at the surface of the moon and you will see a wonderful mechanism for clearing out dust from an area of the moon. Seriously, dust busters, metal grates, giant lint rollers are the best ideas we can generate? Who is sponsoring this nonsense, black & decker?

This really angers me on so many levels. This reminds me of when our new top scientist, then vp, gave the shuttle replacement to the project which didn't under go any flight tests and didn't have a feasible technological basis. 15 years later, we still don't have a replacement. Burt Rutan did it on his own in less time and with less money.

This is a non-problem. Why don't we focus on developing a junk yard in space and start cleaning up our orbit? Why not focus on mining asteroids and find one between us and Mars or us and the asteroid belt? Why not focus on living in space, which we will need to do if we are ever to fulfill our potential? My greatest fear is that in the year 3000 we will still be stuck on this rock.

Of course, I'll be long dead by then, but what about my red-headed, blue eyed half mexican/half chinese muslim decendants?