Respiratory health is a top concern if and when humans return to the moon. NASA scientists are working on ways to repel moon dust particles. (From 2021)
As for keeping dust away from the astronauts’ lungs, a new space suit called the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU, was unveiled at a splashyin Washington, DC, in 2019. It not only was more comfortable and fit women’s bodies better, it featured better dust-filtering equipment and tougher fabrics to reduce the amount of dust that could collect on its surface.
This race to find solutions has also created an odd new market for mock moon rock. A company called RedWire justto the International Space Station, where astronauts will use a 3D printer to form it into slabs, a test of how well it works as a building block for future space habitats. Private space companies have already secured contracts to send exploratory missions to the moon in preparation for a future human base.
Off Planet Research, based in the Seattle area, makes several kinds of lunar dust that it sells to private space firms, who then use it to test against their spacecraft or experimental equipment. The firm buys basalt from mines in Arizona and a mineral calledfrom ones in Canada to make its blends of lunar dust. Each one is mixed for the location on the moon’s surface where a client wants to land.
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