Packing for Mars was a very unique read. Not said bold, but there was a lot of information covered that I expected to hear, although not in such detail. Remote research locations to test equipment, animals sent as guinea pigs into space, timelines describing a bit of a race between nations, crash testing, under water training, rocket fuel formulas, lunar rover changes, etc.
But one topic that caught my ear was in Chapter Nine, “Next Gas, 200,000 Miles”; that being, Moon Dust. Most people are aware of how bad dust, specifically minuscule dirt fragments as opposed to dried skin, can be on delicate equipment. Dirt on a camera lens, which is carelessly wiped away with a t-shirt, can destroy a very expensive apparatus in seconds, for good. In an engine or device with smooth, slim clearing parts, dust can cause things to seize almost immediately and is most difficult to get out. So it makes sense that dust is something that the space crews would have to contend with.
But, apparently moon dust, because of a lack of magnetic field, as on the Earth, impart an electrostatic charge which specifically enables the moon dust to cling to anything and everything. And because of a lack of friction from water or wind, moon rock particles remain sharp, which specifically scratched face plates, destroyed bearings and clogged equipment. More so, since there is so little gravity and when not in their space helmets, moon particles, which have found there way into the space capsule, can be inhaled and settle deep into the more vulnerable tissues of the lungs, much like Silicosis, which scars the lungs and leads to respiratory disease.
Quote:
“NASA has been funding so much research on dust and dust mitigation, that an entire lunar dust simulate industry exists”.
I love the deserts and spend as much time as I can in them, and I have a deep respect for dust getting into everything, but the idea that the dust would actually stay in the air significantly longer, and have an attraction to em and everything else, would prove a frightening challenge indeed when so far from home.
Chapter nine was interesting in the fact that dust or rock particulars could hurt or kill you depending on the situation. Space I think would be on anyone's bucket list (if you have one) but making sure you know all the important details of your safety and who you are with is extremely important. Some people think that astronauts have a easy and fun job but with the facts they have a dangerous, mind boggling challenge in the weeks to come when they are in space.
ReplyDeleteThere lots of scary thoughts to think about when planning for space and this is one of those things that is second nature to us. Muscle memory is such a crazy thing to think about, that are body can do lots of things on auto pilot and something simple like walking has to be taken into account when in the vacuum of space. Just imagine is they had launched someone up there and they hadn't taken the dust into factor. That would be very scary and might cause us to reach a conclusion that space is very dangerous. Then again they may have already experienced this trial and error and easily tried to work around it. After all, that’s what scientist do.
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