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The Danger on Mars That Could Permanently Damage Astronauts’ Lungs
Study Finds ^ | April 10, 2025 | Justin Wang (University of Southern California) and Brian Hynek (University of Colorado, Boulder)

Posted on 04/10/2025 7:12:21 PM PDT by Red Badger

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To: Red Badger
Does not sound like a pleasant place to live. If Elan wants to die on Mars it does not sound like he will have to wait long after arriving.

Sounds like they need to start contaminating mars with Lichen and Mosses and start to terraform it for future generations. (Or start taking care of this planet!)

41 posted on 04/10/2025 9:41:22 PM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: Red Badger

So you are saying we cannot breath the air on Mars? Who would have thunk it?


42 posted on 04/10/2025 10:16:54 PM PDT by Dan Zachary
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To: Red Badger

I keep repeating this. Mars has no magnetosphere because it has no molten iron core. Thus solar radiation is not blocked. Thus we cannot live on the surface of Mars. If we tried it, the astronauts would soon come down with fatal cancer. Any colonization of Mars will have to be underground or under Domes to protect against the radiation.

So we hardly need worry about the effect of Martian dust on the lungs.


43 posted on 04/11/2025 2:45:05 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: PAR35

Yes
Those masks already are proof against viruses. Should easily be great against dust.


44 posted on 04/11/2025 3:46:14 AM PDT by brooklin
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To: MikelTackNailer

A murder will be committed inside the arriving generation.


45 posted on 04/11/2025 3:57:42 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Alteration; The acronym defines the science.)
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To: BipolarBob

Rock Hudson got along just fine on Mars.

https://youtu.be/NfypTnKYN5s?si=Tq_z7hP9dIbse_zz


46 posted on 04/11/2025 4:38:54 AM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sured for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)
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To: montag813

Yes to the base, Eagle style transports, U shaped blaster, moon buggies but no bell bottom uniforms.


47 posted on 04/11/2025 4:40:28 AM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sured for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)
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To: Ronaldus Magnus III

I like the B5 explanation of why to go out “there”.

https://youtu.be/gU41J86Rrg8?si=Hppz876R-q1FZp5C


48 posted on 04/11/2025 4:43:11 AM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sured for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)
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To: dfwgator

Mandatory. Thanks for taking care of it.


49 posted on 04/11/2025 5:11:13 AM PDT by Locomotive Breath
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To: rfp1234

Same problem though. Asbestos is an inert mineral, but people freak out about being anywhere near it. Like it’s somehow like nuclear radiation. Or any exposure at all will kill you.
Asbestos is only a problem if it is pulverized in just the right way and then you inhale that dust for an extended period of time so that a lot of it becomes embedded in your lungs and they can’t expel it.


50 posted on 04/11/2025 5:14:45 AM PDT by Locomotive Breath
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To: Red Badger

There’s virtually no oxygen in the Martian atmosphere, and it’s so thin that the atmospheric pressure there is only 2% of the air pressure here on earth. Why would anyone be breathing it at all?


51 posted on 04/11/2025 5:19:09 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (Freud: projection is a defense mechanism of those struggling with inferiority complexes)
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To: FLT-bird

It won’t be safe underground, either. While the dust on the surface is pulverized by the atmospheric processes, the underground material will be in “pristine” condition and possibly more hazardous.


52 posted on 04/11/2025 5:39:32 AM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: Red Badger

They must be really worried that Musk’s Mars program will be successful....


53 posted on 04/11/2025 5:40:14 AM PDT by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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To: ealgeone
Kinda getting the idea we’re not meant to leave this little blue marble.

Nah, we just need to terraform Mars. Build some robo-tugs to haul icy comets to the planet.

MOMMA: Make Our Mars Moist Again!

54 posted on 04/11/2025 5:52:05 AM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”)
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To: null and void
"Hmmmm. There are no green mammals..."

Hilarious and subtle!

55 posted on 04/11/2025 6:11:10 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck ( )
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To: gundog
Perhaps a member of this species could be a green pussy, uh, cat?


56 posted on 04/11/2025 6:11:11 AM PDT by null and void (Start with the jab, end on a slab)
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To: ealgeone

Not to Mars, anyway. We will one day be a space faring civilization.


57 posted on 04/11/2025 7:18:16 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Red Badger

When the Apollo astronauts returned from the Moon, the dust that clung to their spacesuits made their throats sore and their eyes water. Lunar dust is made of sharp, abrasive and nasty particles...

The “lunar hay fever”, as NASA astronaut Harrison Schmitt described it during the Apollo 17 mission created symptoms in all 12 people who have stepped on the Moon. From sneezing to nasal congestion, in some cases it took days for the reactions to fade.

“We don’t know how bad this dust is. It all comes down to an effort to estimate the degree of risk involved,” says Kim Prisk, a pulmonary physiologist from the University of California

Nasty dust

Lunar dust has silicate in it, a material commonly found on planetary bodies with volcanic activity. Miners on Earth suffer from inflamed and scarred lungs from inhaling silicate. On the Moon, the dust is so abrasive that it ate away layers of spacesuit boots and destroyed the vacuum seals of Apollo sample containers.

Fine like powder, but sharp like glass. The low gravity of the Moon, one sixth of what we have on Earth, allows tiny particles to stay suspended for longer and penetrate more deeply into the lung.

“Particles 50 times smaller than a human hair can hang around for months inside your lungs. The longer the particle stays, the greater the chance for toxic effects,” explains Kim.

The potential damage from inhaling this dust is unknown but research shows that lunar soil simulants can destroy lung and brain cells after long-term exposure.

Down to the particle
On Earth, fine particles tend to smoothen over years of erosion by wind and water, lunar dust however, is not round, but sharp and spiky.

In addition the Moon has no atmosphere and is constantly bombarded by radiation from the Sun that causes the soil to become electrostatically charged.

This charge can be so strong that the dust levitates above the lunar surface, making it even more likely to get inside equipment and people’s lungs.

Working with the simulant is no easy feat. “The rarity of the lunar glass-like material makes it a special kind of dust. We need to grind the source material but that means removing the sharp edges,” says Erin Tranfield, biologist and expert in dust toxicity.


58 posted on 04/12/2025 12:39:49 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: dragnet2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis


59 posted on 04/14/2025 5:54:15 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

Silicon Valley billionaires like Elon Musk say they’ll save the world with AI, Mars colonies and eternal life. PhD Astrophysicist Adam Becker says they’re dead wrong.

Who is right — the billionaire or the scientist?

In this interview on The Nerd Reich podcast Adam Becker—author of More Everything Forever—calls out Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and the tech overlord cult pushing fantasies of immortality, godlike AGI, and space empires. From the myth of the singularity to the hellish reality of Mars, Becker brings the receipts and destroys the pseudo-science behind billionaire techno-utopianism.

🌍 Why Mars is NOT humanity’s backup plan
🧠 Why AGI is more religion than science
💀 Why tech bros fear death—and want to make us all pay for it
📉 The terrifying ideology behind AI hype, space colonization & trans humanism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NrDCvKp5-k


60 posted on 07/20/2025 11:12:30 PM PDT by Texan4Life
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