Lunar soil particles are dangerous to colonizers.
American scientists from the Stony Brook University School of Medicine have concluded that prolonged exposure to moon dust can be very dangerous to human health. This is reported in an article in the journal Phys.org.
As part of the analysis, the researchers grew human and mouse cells in a laboratory and then exposed them to artificial moon dust. In both cases, they found that moon dust could kill cells or damage DNA.
“We have established that prolonged work at the lunar base can provoke more serious disorders in astronauts, including cancer,” said Professor Bruce Demple, lead author of the study.
As a result, moon dust killed 90% of the cells in the human lung tissue faster than observers reacted to the changes that appeared in it. It was even worse for mice, whose neurons, after contact with moon dust, received irreversible DNA damage.
Scientists have compared exposure to moon dust to silicosis, a disease that predominantly develops in miners and those who breathe dust from dust storms or volcanic eruptions. When the particles settle in the lungs, they can cause serious damage to the human body, up to and including cell mutation.
The study notes that the soil on the moon is dry and potentially electrostatically charged. And billions of years of bombing by meteorites and micrometeorites have turned it into tiny pieces. The results are still intermediate: scientists have proven that only artificial dust is dangerous. Now they hope to get real moon dust from NASA, obtained by the Apollo mission, for research.
GRIGORY PUSHKAREV
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