Breathing lunar dust could pose health risk to future astronauts

Future astronauts spending long periods of time on the moon could suffer bronchitis and other health problems by inhaling tiny particles of dust from its surface, according to new research.

A new study finds simulated lunar soil is toxic to human lung and mouse brain cells. Up to 90 percent of human lung cells and mouse neurons died when exposed to dust particles that mimic soils found on the moon's surface.

The results show breathing toxic dust, even in minute quantities, could pose a health hazard to future astronauts traveling to the moon, Mars or other airless planetary bodies. Space agencies know exposure to the space environment and zero gravity can be harmful to human health, but planetary dust poses an additional risk that has been mostly overlooked, according to the researchers.

"There are risks to extraterrestrial exploration, both lunar and beyond, more than just the immediate risks of space itself," said Rachel Caston, a geneticist at Stony Brook University School of Medicine in Stony Brook, New York and lead author of the new study published in GeoHealth, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

Lunar dust caused reactions similar to hay fever in astronauts who visited the moon during the Apollo missions. Their experience coupled with the new study's results suggest prolonged exposure to lunar dust could impair airway and lung function, according to BruceDemple, a biochemist at Stony Brook University School of Medicine and senior author of the new study. If the dust induces inflammation in the lungs, it could increase the risk of more serious diseases like cancer, he said.

"If there are trips back to the moon thatinvolve stays of weeks, months or even longer, it probably won't be possible to eliminate that risk completely," Demple said.