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Perseverance measures fine Mars dust on spacesuit samples
NASA said Perseverance measured fine and ultrafine Martian dust on spacesuit material samples over 1,645 Martian days, with findings due Tuesday in PNAS.
NASA said Monday that Perseverance measured fine and ultrafine Martian dust on spacesuit material samples over 1,645 Martian days, including particles small enough to reach the lungs and bloodstream1.
The agency said the findings are scheduled for publication Tuesday, Oct. 27, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and could inform spacesuit and habitat design, dust-removal procedures and crew health standards for future Mars missions1.
The rover carries five spacesuit-material swatches, each about three-quarters of an inch square, on a calibration target for SHERLOC, an instrument on the robotic arm1. PIXL, which provided the dust measurements, carries Teflon and basaltic glass samples1. NASA said earlier Mars measurements resolved particles down to about 3 micrometers, while PIXL detected fine particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers and ultrafine particles around 100 nanometers1.
Particles on PIXL's Teflon target and SHERLOC's Vectran swatch averaged about 2 micrometers, NASA said, while dust on PIXL's basaltic glass and SHERLOC's Teflon swatch ranged down to about 100 to 300 nanometers1. Chemically, the dust matched the iron- and sulfur-rich composition earlier missions measured; PIXL also found phosphorus enrichment and signs of calcium sulfate1.
Scott VanBommel, a Perseverance scientist at Washington University in St. Louis and the paper's lead author, said the smallest particles remain after larger clumps shake off and "pose the greatest challenge for human support systems"1. NASA said Martian dust is mostly silicate minerals and includes perchlorates that can disrupt thyroid function and reactive iron that can damage cells, with health risk depending on quantity and exposure length1.
Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the mission's human-prep work includes the spacesuit samples along with MOXIE and Ingenuity1. NASA said it has already tested an Electrodynamic Dust Shield on the Moon in March 2025 aboard Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 11.
Sources
NASAOfficial source