Related papers: Toxicity of lunar dust
Several physical mechanisms are involved in excavating granular materials beneath a vertical jet of gas. These occur, for example, beneath the exhaust plume of a rocket landing on the soil of the Moon or Mars. A series of experiments and…
There are strong evidences which favour the existence of dust in active galaxies. Understanding the way in which dust interacts with the radiation and influences the physical conditions of the gas is crucial if we want to learn about the…
The charged dust on the surface of airless celestial bodies, such as the moon and asteroids, is a threat to space missions. Further research on the charged dust will contribute to the success of space missions. In this paper, we study the…
One objective of Artemis science is to determine the impact human activities have on the lunar environment, which might compromise science objectives and measurements. We perform a preliminary analysis of the contamination associated with…
The results of an analysis of the physics of levitation of negatively charged dust particles over a surface (wall) in an inverse sheath are reported. It is shown that under suitable parameter regime, the ion-drag force may balance the…
The origin of Phobos and Deimos in a giant impact generated disk is gaining larger attention. Although this scenario has been the subject of many studies, an evaluation of the chemical composition of the Mars' moons in this framework is…
Tools have been developed to model and simulate the effects of lunar landing vehicles on the lunar environment, mostly addressing the effects of regolith erosion by rocket plumes and the fate of the ejected lunar soil particles. The KSC…
Mars is the next milestone in human exploration. However, there are still several challenges that must be assessed to ensure appropriate conditions in a future settlement. Communications services will be essential for this task, providing…
The dust-to-metals ratio describes the fraction of the heavy elements contained in dust grains, and its variation provides key insights into the life cycle of dust. We measure the dust-to-metals ratio in M101, a nearby galaxy with a radial…
Extra-galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) permit the study of dust and molecules in metallicity environments other than the Galaxy. Their known distances lower the number of free parameters in the observations vs. models comparison, providing…
Accurate estimation of cratering asymmetry on the Moon is crucial for understanding Moon evolution history. Early studies of cratering asymmetry have omitted the contributions of high lunar obliquity and inclination. Here, we include lunar…
We explore the possibility that exotic forms of dark matter could expose humans on Earth or on prolonged space travel to a significant radiation dose. The radiation exposure from dark matter interacting with nuclei in the human body is…
Airborne dust is the main climatic agent in the Martian environment. Local dust storms play a key role in the dust cycle; yet their life cycle is poorly known. Here we use mesoscale modeling that includes the transport of radiatively active…
Recent works have demonstrated a surprisingly small variation of the dust-to-metals ratio in different environments and a correlation between dust extinction and the density of stars. Naively, one would interpret these findings as strong…
The frequently discovered flooding structure on Mars and other planets has long been an intriguing mystery remained un-disclosed so far. Considering that on Earth, quite a few low melting point liquid metals or their alloy can be candidates…
Like many airless planetary surfaces, the surface of the Moon is scattered by populations of blocks and smaller boulders. These features decrease in abundance with increasing exposure time due to comminution by impact bombardment and…
Despite years of research, understanding of the space radiation environment and the risk it poses to long-duration astronauts remains limited. There is a disparity between research results and observed empirical effects seen in human…
This article gives an overview of the constitution, physical conditions and observables of dust in the interstellar medium of nearby galaxies. We first review the macroscopic, spatial distribution of dust in these objects, and its…
The frequency and the characteristics of lunar impacting meteorites are reconsidered under the general assumption of belonging to the sporadic meteoroids. We develop the model for evaluating the luminous energy detected in the visual band…
The Moon exhibits striking geological asymmetries in elevation, crustal thickness, and composition between its nearside and farside. Although several scenarios have been proposed to explain these asymmetries, their origin remains debated.…