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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."
That lunar dust is "not hazardous", read this: MICRO-MORPHOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LUNAR DUST The part about "glass shards" really brings the "point" home.
I've got your sig, right here.
Actually smoking may be benificial here. The dust would tend to stick to the tar rather than scatter freely. Just look at the inside of a computer from a smokers house... the fans a gummed up, sticky dust covers everything and canned air does nothing on the tar laced dust. Mabe the tar can be used to help clean the dust from the air? NASA should give me funding to test this theory :-) Maybe the astronauts shouldn't smoke themselves but a tar derived from smokers homes could be used in air filters or something.
The iRobot Moonba
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
Actually one of the problems with lunar dust is that it has a charge. Imagine sticking your arm in a box of packaging peanuts and pulling it out and have a number of the peanuts stuck to your arm. It's along that type of concept. The other big issue with lunar dust is that it's very abrasive. I believe in the original lunar missions, when they scooped up lunar dust into containers, it cut the o-rings on the containers that they brought the lunar dust back in.
I am currently involved in an experiment to use a circuit board to remove the lunar dust from solar panels in lunar gravity. If you tried and brushed it off, it would scratch the glass and the solar panels would become less efficient. The circuit has been proven before, but we're (as far as I know) the first ones to try it in lunar gravity. Hopefully this concept can be adapted in the future to create a lunar dust "vacuum cleaner" or maybe apply it to "repel" dust in other ways.
Zapp: Just let me catch my breath. Perhaps these will clear my lungs
[Zapp unravels a square pack from his t-shirt sleeve]
Zapp: Out-staaanding. Laramie Extra-tar now comes with cesnium-methyl-butate.
[Zapp's eyes roll back as he takes a long drag]
Zapp: Ahhh. Damn, that's smooooooth. [cough cough] Easy money baby. Another day, another euro.
Troy: Don't kid yourself, Branny. My good looks paid for that moon buggy, and my talent filled it with gold nuggets.
[Zapp laughs as a tar stained tooth drops from his mouth]
Zapp: Gold? I thought that was cheese.
I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.
Yeah...send a woman.....
A LLYOUEVERDOIS-----"
Every time a New Moon comes around, she'll bith the living hell out of Mission Control. However, there is an upside: Mission Control has a 'mute' button.
I can hear it already:
Lunar Lander: "Goddamn it! Who the hell tracked dirt in here?! I just finished cleaning this mess up! Am I the only one who picks up around here?!"
Mission Control: "Ma'am, just calm down, Everything is going to be fine."
Lunar Lander: "Fine?! How the hell is this 'fine'?!"
Mission Control: "Look, just calm down. It's nothing to get pissy about. Jeez... just frickin' relax!"
Lunar Lander: "REALX?! That's all you ever do is relax! Every time I come in it's nothin but you sitting down in front of the damn TV with---"
(click)
Mission Control: "So, Bob, you catch the race the other day?"
Mission Control: "Yeah. Speaking of races, see if you can put NASCAR up on the big screen.
Mission Control: "Hold on a sec. Lemme check just one thing first....."
(click)
Lunar Lander: "GODDAMNITWHATTHEHELLAREYOUFATASSESDOINGDOWNTHERE
(click)
Mission Control: "What you guys wanna watch? Fishing, Foxworthy, or Nascar?
(sounds of beer cans opening, feet being put up on the table, and loud belching)
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Yeah, apparently the space program is now doing their purchasing on the Shopping Channel.
During the relatively short Apollo Moon landing missions nearly 40 years ago, astronauts reported difficulty breathing.
And that is how we discovered that the Moon doesn't have an atmosphere...
Worse.
Moon dust off the surface has been nicely activated by radiation and sun over centuries. It is not the relatively inert silica you get from cutting glass and rocks. It can catalyse all kinds of strange and wonderfull reactions because cosmic ray particles have kicked out (or even modified) an atom here and there and it has remained there in a very active form due to the lack of atmosphere. On earth it would have been deactivated nearly immediately by oxygen, water or even nitrogen from the air. On the moon it will stay active nearly for ever and over the years there will be more and more of these on the surface of each particle. Add to that the habit to accumulate static charges (which is actually related to the surface being active) so it sticks everywhere and you got yourself a really nasty problem on your hands.
Moon dust is something you do not like having anywhere near lungs and in fact anywhere near the innards of a space station. Think of asbestous, but with nearly instantaneous effect and the habit to cling to everything.
In the 60-es they did not care about health and safety. Nowdays, this would be considerably more difficult to ignore.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/