I have just been reminded of an article that I read a few years ago that stated that there is some type of chemical on mars that is deadly to man. It when on to explain that to explore mars would require total isolation from the mars dust. It explained that during the moon landing they had problems with dust from the moon getting inside the landers and the trouble astronauts had washing it of. They said it took weeks to wash the dust from their pours.

I can't remember what the chemical was or if the article had any credit.

Does anyone know anything about this?

Google is a wonderful thing! :cool:

Try here:
Space.com Article: NRC Study Urges Caution About Possible Dangerous Martian (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ap_mars_020501.html)

The National Research Council handed NASA a bunch of recommendations, including one that suggests a study of potential toxic substances on Mars, in particular Hexavalent Chromium (http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hexavalentchromium/), a possible carcinogen that may be common on Mars.

Very, very, very, very, very, fine dust can in itself be toxic, clogging the pores, getting into the lungs, etc. But I dont' think that's what thier talking about.

All you have to do to deal with hexavalent chromium, according to OSHA, is wear protective clothing, gloves, respirators, etc. And any Martian astronauts would be wearing spacesuits, wouldn't they? They could just leave the spacesuits in the airlock or something, couldn't they? Maybe disposable spacesuits would be developed by the time we were ready to send a manned expedition to Mars?

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hexavalentchromium/

Yes, but it would be nice to be able to terraform our neighbouring planet without getting poisoned by the dust;
possibly the two methods of terraforming and genetic engineering will approach this problem from different directions, and meet in the middle ; a half terraformed planet with people designed to live there.
(like in this scenario:
http://www.orionsarm.com/worlds/Mars.html )

Probably the first astronauts to mars would live in a cave, like
our ancestors did! I would think that unmanned explorers would
look for a natural cave, larva tunnel, or some such formation before
a manned mission were sent. A cave would need an airlock at the
entrance of course, and the other end sealed off if it were too
large. Oxygen to breath and hydrogen for fuel could be produced
from the frozen water on mars and possibly food crops could be
grown in the cave under artificial lighting. The return trip would
be many months after landing, so some type of habitat would be
necessary along with food while there. A cave would offer protection
from some other possible hazards, such as meteorites and radiation.
Hexavalent chromiun and other properties of the martian soil could
be significant problems.