All 12 people who walked on the Moon suffered 'lunar hay fever' from gunpowder-smelling dust (2018)

All 12 people who landed on the Moon during the Apollo missions experienced symptoms such as sneezing, nasal congestion, watery eyes, and sore throat because of lunar dust.

Harrison Schmitt called it "lunar hay fever," and for some, symptoms took several days to subside. Inside the spacecraft, the dust reportedly smelled like burnt gunpowder.

ESA is conducting research to assess how dangerous this dust is to the human body. The key concerns are as follows.

• Lunar dust is sharp and highly abrasive.
• It contains silicate, which may irritate the lungs when inhaled.
• In the Moon's 1/6 gravity environment, fine particles can stay airborne longer and penetrate more deeply.
• With no atmosphere on the Moon, radiation causes the soil to become electrostatically charged, making the dust float easily.

ESA researchers are working with experts across Europe to estimate the risks, testing equipment and dust behavior using lunar simulant soil mined from a volcanic region in Germany. However, real lunar soil has glass-like sharp particle characteristics, and there is a limitation in that some of those edges are lost when the simulant material is crushed.

Meanwhile, lunar soil also has potential uses. It can be heated to make bricks, and oxygen extraction from the soil is also possible, which could help with sustainable lunar exploration in the future.