FACTORS OF POTENTIAL HAZARD OF REGOLITH MICROELEMENT COMPOSITION TO THE HEALTH OF FUTURE SETTLERS ON THE MOON

Abstract

The paper gives quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the lunar soil microelements, and potential hazard to the health of future Moon settlers. Chemical composition of regoliths from 4 lunar regions was analyzed and compared to terrestrial soil clarkes. Object of the investigation was regolith samples obtained from the mare regions in the missions of Luna-16, -24 and Apollo-11, -12. It was found that concentrations of microelements Cr, Ni, Co, Be, Sc, Y, Au, Ag as well as the majority of lanthanides were much higher than in terrestrial soils. The direct contact with high concentration of these elements is likely to endanger the health of settlers on the Moon.