It all started in 1972, when astronaut Harrison Schmidt smelled the lunar air. He

thought it was like gunpowder. Funny, did he get the impression that he was on a

battlefield as well? The following day however, Schmidt complained of lunar dust hay

fever.

More than 30 years later, NASA has begun funding Project Dust. This study has aim to

give more insight on possible technologies which may help people from such diseases as lunar

dust hay fever and silicosis, which occurs due to heavy inhalation of dust containing

silica. Silicosis, also known as "stone-grinder's disease," retained people's attention

when hundreds of miners who had breathed in fine quartz while at work, died within half a

decade in the USA's Great Depression.

Quartz, a hard mineral consisting of silica, is not chemically poisonous. Rather it is

its mere presence in the lungs which is harmful. Quartz is found in Moon dust particles.

These particles are smaller than 10 microns (1 micron=0.000 001 metre) and when breathed in,

they may cause lunar dust hay fever, which Schmidt had suffered from, but most importantly,

they may cause silicosis. The dust particles are extremely abrasive and irritate the lungs.

They get deposited in the alveolar sacs in the lungs and once there, neither mucous nor

coughing are able to remove them. Furthermore, the quartz particles "fool" the human body's

immune system. White blood cells that engulf the quartz, are killed because quartz is in

the form of sharp-edged particles.

Project Dust thus seems to be a very good idea to prevent these "dusty diseases" and

technologies like thin-film coatings that repel dust or other electrostatic techniques for

removing dust from spacesuits, will be given much attention.

Moon dust is definetely only a hurdle that will be overcome in some time but with future

plans of sending people on Mars, scientists have also started examining Martian dust and

soil as well.

And it can clearly be said that Martian dust is worst than Moon dust. Martian dust is

not only a mechanical irritant but also a chemical poison. Mars's surface is red because it

is composed vastly of rust and oxides of many minerals. Scientists believe that the Martian

soil may, for its part, actually burn organic compounds like plastic, rubber as well as the

human skin.

The beautiful red planet does seem like hell, doesn't it? And what about the silent Moon;

it will kill slowly by suffocating its prey, if nothing is done. I'm proud that I have

developed an allergy to dust.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.

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