Dust, Radiation and Thermal Extremes: the Environment Tax
What does the lunar environment do to hardware and people, and how much does it add to the cost of operating there?
Chapter summary
Three hazards raise the cost of everything on the Moon.
Key takeaways
- 1
Lunar dust is fine, sharp and electrostatically charged; it clogged Apollo suits and seals within three days.
- 2
Radiation, without Earth's magnetic field, exposes astronauts to galactic cosmic rays all the time and to solar particle events occasionally, limiting how long a person can stay.
- 3
Temperature swings from about +120 °C in sunlight to below −170 °C at night, and colder still in shadowed craters, stress every mechanism.
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Mobility: the Lunar Terrain Vehicle and Pressurised Rovers
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