Martian dust may pose health risk to humans exploring red planet, study finds | Expeditions may be more challenging than previously thought due to presence of toxic particles
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/26/martian-dust-may-pose-health-risk-to-humans-exploring-red-planet-study-finds
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“Martian dust isn’t as sharp and abrasive as lunar dust, but it does have the same tendency to stick to everything, and the fine particles (about 4% the width of a human hair) can penetrate deep into lungs and enter the bloodstream. Toxic substances in the dust include silica, gypsum and various metals.“
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Last I heard the dust is made of super fine rusty razor blades because there’s no water to dull the edges. Now they’re toxic…… come on mars work with me here
Just imagine trying to escape Earth’s mess and ending up with a toxic dust storm.
So you want to be wearing a mask in your potato growing / waste processing facility.
The simulation doesn’t want us to leave Earth.
Just one more of many reasons why manned missions to Mars make no sense over advanced robotic missions.
Learning these things is WHY WE SEND ROBOTS, not people. And then cry when they die. #Oppy
so ellen minsk is a hybrid of martian and lunar regolith, not that sharp but very abrasive
Well I mean, yeah. They are ingesting new chemicals from a planet that we do not have very much knowledge of. I’d imagine it wouldn’t be great for your health until you have the proper filtration devices.
Mars is way more dangerous than people realize, let’s say hypothetically you even survived the trip there.
Imagine how long terraforming it would take, you’d have to remove and process the entire upper layers of soil planetwide.
Colonizing Mars is a thoroughly worthless project, and only delusionals imagine it will be humanity’s backup plan. It won’t be.
This was always a grift. It’s really convenient to claim I need all this government $$$$ to go to this new planet because in the future blah blah it’s a panacea lie and a grift.
Who wants to explore Mars? It’s already bin explored by robots? There is noting there. It’s a ketamine dream so the current richest man in the world can have his name in another record book. Along with scamming more tax payer funds.
If Elon gets space emphysema I certainly don’t care
Damn, so basically just going outside on Mars, then coming back in is a big danger due to the dust that will stick to the suit and contaminate the airlock?
I’m sure we can come up with tech to overcome that, but that just points to even more reason to focus on the Moon first and develop it based on experiences there. Lot closer for any issues that may pop up needing quick extract.
So, let me get this straight: toxic soil, no infrastructure, no reliable means to get people there, major health risks due to 0 gravity while traveling (muscle, kidney issues). BUT Musk claims we will send people to mars by 2026? Mmhhmm ok.
No shit, that’s why we need to focus on keep our planet habitable not some stupid pipe dream of “terraforming mars” by a billionaire nazi
Elon really needs to personally get up there and check this out for himself and report back to humanity in a few years/decades.
Have they BEEN to Earth? It’s like a sewer around here.
We should send robots to Mars and let them build self sufficient colonies instead. Robots don’t need oxygens and food, and I think we can also make robots that are impervious to the Martial dust in a similar technology to waterproof devices. Human body are just not build to live anywhere but Earth.
We could go somewhere about as practical and live in the Marianas trench!
They get credit for talking about the dust hazards without just digging out the tired old “toxic perchlorates!”, which are possibly the easiest dust hazard to deal with and the one with the least health impact.
Still, dealing with similar hazards is commonplace here on Earth. The particle sizes are similar to those found in smoke, so precautions taken with smoke/soot/etc might be a good starting point. You’ll need good hygiene procedures with anything that enters a habitat from outside. This isn’t news.
The toxic particles are most likely us humans.
I don’t really understand how this is eminently relevant? If the person can’t be exposed anyways due to lack of breathable atmosphere, isn’t this issue solved by the whatever the same solution is for creating the necessary suit/shelter to make it explorable in the first place?