Toxicity of lunar dust

TL;DR

This paper reviews current knowledge on lunar dust toxicity, highlights significant gaps in understanding, and recommends future research directions including in situ measurements to accurately assess health risks for lunar explorers.

Contribution

It identifies key knowledge gaps in lunar dust toxicity and proposes specific research strategies to improve health risk assessments for lunar missions.

Findings

Lunar dust toxicity properties are poorly characterized.

Existing lunar samples have limitations for toxicity studies.

In situ measurements are essential for accurate toxicity assessment.

Abstract

The formation, composition and physical properties of lunar dust are incompletely characterised with regard to human health. While the physical and chemical determinants of dust toxicity for materials such as asbestos, quartz, volcanic ashes and urban particulate matter have been the focus of substantial research efforts, lunar dust properties, and therefore lunar dust toxicity may differ substantially. In this contribution, past and ongoing work on dust toxicity is reviewed, and major knowledge gaps that prevent an accurate assessment of lunar dust toxicity are identified. Finally, a range of studies using ground-based, low-gravity, and in situ measurements is recommended to address the identified knowledge gaps. Because none of the curated lunar samples exist in a pristine state that preserves the surface reactive chemical aspects thought to be present on the lunar surface, studies using this material carry with them considerable uncertainty in terms of fidelity. As a consequence, in situ data on lunar dust properties will be required to provide ground truth for ground-based studies quantifying the toxicity of dust exposure and the associated health risks during future manned lunar missions.