From the description, moon dust is very much an inhalation hazard. The sharp edges means it will embed into lung tissue and the composition likely causes silicosis.
A recent study published in the April (2018) issue of the journal GeoHealth examined exactly how dangerous that dust can be on a cellular level — and the results are as ominous as the dark side of the moon. In several lab tests, a single scoop of replica moon dust proved toxic enough to kill up to 90 percent of the lung and brain cells exposed to it.
A scoop is not a well defined amount (is that a gram? a fl oz?). I'm also not sure what happens to brain cells when they are exposed to most other things.
In the article Harrison Schmidt ended up with allergy symptoms after breathing in an undefined amount of moon dust. He seemed to recover after a day and not have his lungs wrecked thereafter.
> NASA planetary mineralogist Roy Christoffersen used these six aluminum cylinders to test the lunar dust under an electron microscope to verify it was collected during the Apollo 11 mission.
Heh, weird to see the name of an old coworker in this context.
"Bonhams auctioned the Apollo 11 moon dust for $504,375 as part of its Space History Sale held Wednesday (April 13) in New York. The amount, which included the buyer's premium, fell short of Bonham's pre-auction estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million."
And then NASA conveniently forgets they ever gave away that stuff or the court verdict, and their SWAT team comes kicking in your door to reappropriate "stolen goods".
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Now you don't need to buy the moon dust, you're welcome
2 decades later Elon Musk starts mining the moon and moon dust becomes a commodity going for 10$ to the kilogram
It is also an excellent Portal conductor.
https://www.livescience.com/62590-moon-dust-bad-lungs-brain....
A scoop is not a well defined amount (is that a gram? a fl oz?). I'm also not sure what happens to brain cells when they are exposed to most other things.
In the article Harrison Schmidt ended up with allergy symptoms after breathing in an undefined amount of moon dust. He seemed to recover after a day and not have his lungs wrecked thereafter.
Heh, weird to see the name of an old coworker in this context.
5 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) aluminum sample stubs, each topped with approximately 10 mm diameter carbon tape containing Apollo Moon dust,
So, this is truly a vary thin "layer" of moon dust. Maybe less than a mg per sample. I wonder if there's even enough there to smell it.
https://www.space.com/bonhams-apollo-11-moon-dust-auction
It happened before [1], it can happen to you.
[1] https://www.ibtimes.co.in/neil-armstrong-gift-sees-nasa-swat...