Life Sciences Investigations for ESA’s First Lunar Lander

Angerer, Oliver; Durante, Marco; Linnarson, D.; Pike, Tom

doi:10.1007/s11038-010-9375-y

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This high value is unlikely to be an artifact of our analysis as demonstrated by the ability to identify a much lower transition length for JSC Mars‐1 with a functional copy of the flight hardware. Lunar regolith, plotted for comparison inFigure 3, has a cumulative particle mass distribution with a fractal dimension of zero for particles up to at least 10 μ m in diameter [ Carpenter et al , 2010]: The soil at the Phoenix site is better matched in terms of PSD to lunar regolith rather than any terrestrial soil in the range up to 10 μ m.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of the dry history of the Martian soil inferred from in situ microscopy

Pike

Staufer

Hecht

et al. 2011

Geophys. Res. Lett.

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The particle size distribution (PSD) of a Martian soil sample, a useful indicator of the underlying soil formation processes, has been determined using optical and atomic‐force microscopy data acquired by the Phoenix Mars lander. In particular, the presence and fraction of clay‐sized particles in the PSD reflects the extent of aqueous interaction with the soil. Two size populations have been identified for the Martian sample: Larger, mostly rounded grains; and small reddish fines, notably with a very low mass proportion in the clay‐size range below 2μm. These fines reflect the smallest‐scale formation processes, and indicate a single method of production for the particles up to 11μm, a much larger value than that expected for the aqueous interaction of clay formation; this suggests the fines are predominantly the product of global aeolian weathering under very dry conditions. The proportion of clay‐sized soils can be used to estimate that there has been much less than 5,000 years exposure to liquid water over the history of the soil. From the perspective of the PSD, lunar regolith, rather than terrestrial soil, is the best analog to Martian soil. A globally homogenous soil with such a PSD would be an unlikely habitat for the propagation of life on Mars.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of the dry history of the Martian soil inferred from in situ microscopy

Pike

Staufer

Hecht

et al. 2011

Geophys. Res. Lett.

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“…For example, the Moon can be used to investigate whether the effects of gravity are linear or whether there are critical threshold in effect (e.g. Cockell, 2010), the biological effects of the radiation environment beyond the Earth's magnetosphere, and the toxicity of lunar dust (Carpenter et al, 2010;Loftus et al, 2010;Linnarsson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Research That Advances the Human Exploration And Settlement mentioning

confidence: 99%

Back to the Moon: The scientific rationale for resuming lunar surface exploration

Crawford

Anand

Cockell

et al. 2012

Planetary and Space Science

125

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The lunar geological record has much to tell us about the earliest history of the Solar System, the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system, the geological evolution of rocky planets, and the near-Earth cosmic environment throughout Solar System history. In addition, the lunar surface offers outstanding opportunities for research in astronomy, astrobiology, fundamental physics, life sciences and human physiology and medicine. This paper provides an interdisciplinary review of outstanding lunar science objectives in all of these different areas. It is concluded that addressing them satisfactorily will require an end to the 40-year hiatus of lunar surface exploration, and the placing of new scientific instruments on, and the return of additional samples from, the surface of the Moon. Some of these objectives can be achieved robotically (e.g. through targeted sample return, the deployment of geophysical networks, and the placing of antennas on the lunar surface to form radio telescopes). However, in the longer term, most of these scientific objectives would benefit significantly from renewed human operations on the lunar surface. For these reasons it is highly desirable that current plans for renewed robotic surface exploration of the Moon are developed in the context of a future human lunar exploration programme, such as that proposed by the recently formulated Global Exploration Roadmap.

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“…Because of the brevity of exposure, longterm health effects could not be observed, but prolonged inhalation of lunar dust may possibly yield similar outcomes on astronauts to those observed in workers exposed to pathogenic dusts such as crystalline silica or asbestos. Recently, several space agencies showed a renewed interest in robotic and manned missions to the Moon (Carpenter et al, 2010;Crawford et al, 2012, and references therein) and pointed out that more reliable information is required on the nature and intensity of the damage caused by lunar dust to astronauts and equipment. On Earth, the toxicity of a given kind of particle is assessed by cell-free, cellular, and animal tests whose results are confirmed by epidemiological evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These agents may enhance the surface reactivity of the particles by promoting formation of transient reactive sites (Wallace et al, 2009) as is the case on Earth with freshly ground quartz (Vallyathan et al, 1995;Fubini and Hubbard, 2003;Schwarze et al, 2006). Furthermore, the absence of atmospheric oxygen and water at the surface of the Moon prevents the annealing of such reactive sites and thus preserves the reactivity of lunar dust at the Moon's surface (Carpenter et al, 2010). As both Apollo samples and the lunar dust simulants studied so far have been exposed to the oxidative atmosphere of Earth, the reactivity of lunar dust at the Moon's surface is expected to be higher than that measured by tests on Earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free-Radical Chemistry as a Means to Evaluate Lunar Dust Health Hazard in View of Future Missions to the Moon

et al. 2015

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Lunar dust toxicity has to be evaluated in view of future manned missions to the Moon. Previous studies on lunar specimens and simulated dusts have revealed an oxidant activity assigned to HO· release. However, the mechanisms behind the reactivity of lunar dust are still quite unclear at the molecular level. In the present study, a complementary set of tests--including terephthalate (TA) hydroxylation, free radical release as measured by means of the spin-trapping/electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technique, and cell-free lipoperoxidation--is proposed to investigate the reactions induced by the fine fraction of a lunar dust analogue (JSC-1A-vf) in biologically relevant experimental environments. Our study proved that JSC-1A-vf is able to hydroxylate TA also in anaerobic conditions, which indicates that molecular oxygen is not involved in such a reaction. Spin-trapping/EPR measures showed that the HO· radical is not the reactive intermediate involved in the oxidative potential of JSC-1A-vf. A surface reactivity implying a redox cycle of phosphate-complexed iron via a Fe(IV) state is proposed. The role of this iron species was investigated by assessing the reactivity of JSC-1A-vf toward hydrogen peroxide (Fenton-like activity), formate ions (homolytic rupture of C-H bond), and linoleic acid (cell-free lipoperoxidation). JSC-1A-vf was active in all tests, confirming that redox centers of transition metal ions on the surface of the dust may be responsible for dust reactivity and that the TA assay may be a useful field probe to monitor the surface oxidative potential of lunar dust.

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Life Sciences Investigations for ESA’s First Lunar Lander

Cited by 10 publications

References 24 publications

Quantification of the dry history of the Martian soil inferred from in situ microscopy

Quantification of the dry history of the Martian soil inferred from in situ microscopy

Back to the Moon: The scientific rationale for resuming lunar surface exploration

Free-Radical Chemistry as a Means to Evaluate Lunar Dust Health Hazard in View of Future Missions to the Moon

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