Philip Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida, has been studying the influence of interplanetary dust since 1997.
Moon dust is made up of coarse small particles -jagged and sharp-edged grains that pose a serious problem for astronauts and virtually any man-made object that must land or take off from a natural satellite of the Earth.
“It’s not just fluffy dust thatwe're used to it on Earth,” explains the scientist. “These are rocks, grains of sand and high-speed gravel.” For years, NASA scientists have been studying the damage that this dust, along with lunar gravel and rocks, can cause, especially when it is “thrown up” by rocket engines and begins to fly at the speed of a bullet. But there is no universal solution yet.
The dust problem is almost as old as NASA itself. Back during the Apollo program in the 1960s and early 1970s, astronauts complained that they couldn't use their gloves after three days because moon dust had ruined the seals.
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