Moondust As a Risk Factor in Lunar Exploration

In 2022, our country will return to the Moon. This is a daunting task with many challenges and dangers. One of them, so far the least studied and most obscure, is the subject of this article, prepared using the materials of the report “Exploration of the Moon and Planets with the Help of Automatic Spacecraft: A Prelude to the Exploration of the Moon by Man” (it was heard at a scientific session of the General Meeting of RAS members on April 21, 2021). The surface of the Moon, like most atmosphereless bodies, is covered with a layer of dust: a fine fraction of regolith, crushed over hundreds of millions of years of being on the surface of the planet. Under the influence of external factors—both natural and anthropogenic—dust particles can rise from the surface, levitate under the influence of electrostatic forces, and settle on spacecraft. The experience of the six American Apollo manned missions showed that lunar dust microparticles affected the service systems of the lander, deposited on the astronauts’ suits, got into the air recirculation systems of the sealed lander and, as a result, influenced the health of the astronauts. Considering the size of such particles, which can be tens or hundreds of nanometers, it has become clear that the toxicity of moondust is one of the most serious problems in the study of the Moon with human participation. This conclusion was made at the end of the Apollo program. The factor of lunar dust during manned missions to the Moon is discussed, and methods for solving this problem are outlined.