Biggest problem in suit design really is the joints and seals... THAT is where technology REALLY needs to be applied! Reason is simple-- after Gene Cernan's and Jack Schmitt's record setting lunar expedition on Apollo 17, the most extensive ever undertaken, Gene voiced the opinion that their suits were "falling apart" from wear and abrasion from lunar dust contamination... The seals were visibly worn at the articulation points as well as fabric abrasion. That was just with 3 days on the lunar surface-- you can imagine the wear on suits with a 2-3 week stay on the lunar surface or longer!

Unlike dust on Earth, lunar dust is "pristine" and un-eroded. Most is either produced by lunar impact ejecta blasted out by debris hitting the Moon, or to a much smaller degree, interplanetary dust that has either impacted the Moon or been drawn down onto it by gravity. Either way, without wind or water to move it around, it's still "razor sharp" particles covered with tiny jagged points and edges that are particularly good at scratching and cutting into materials and wearing down seals. The closest analog on Earth is volcanic ash/dust ejected from a volcanic explosion, where the particles have not had time to be exposed to wind and water and erode away the sharp edges, so it's like tiny shards of broken glass, which is why it's so injurious and damaging to equipment.

Even on Mars there's been wind erosion for countless millennia so the dust there, while perhaps chemically active (perchlorates and other "noxious chemicals" which might be quite reactive particularly if they contaminate an area with readily available moisture/water like say the interior humidity of a spacecraft or the human body) the particles themselves should be pretty well rounded smooth like talc from constantly blowing across the Martian terrain in the periodic dust storms that envelope the planet... even for particles too large to get airborne, they should have been worn down from erosion by wind-borne particles in dust storms. SO far less of a problem than lunar dust/grit.

Gene Cernan expressed the opinion that he wasn't sure their suits would have held together for another full day of EVA on the lunar surface. While this might be somewhat of a pessimistic view (after all you can't accuse that generation of astronauts as being "overly dramatic" LOL it DOES represent his professional opinion that wear on the joints and sealing surfaces and outer fabric integrity was becoming questionable.

Later! OL J R

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I also remember reading that several of the moon walkers had bruised fingernails from working against the 'inflated' membrane of the gloves. They said it was very tiring on the hands and made for a great deal of effort and fatigue in the fingers trying to work tools and such. Some reported bruised nails for weeks after their return to earth.

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
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