phaseofApollotraining,whenthe
astronautsweretakingcrashcours-
esinallmannerofsubjects– vector
calculus,antennatheory,thephys-
iolog yofthehumannose.O’Brien’s
taskwastoteachthemabouttheVan
Allenbelts,tworegionsofradiation
thatencircletheplanetlikeapair
ofinf latablepooltubes.Heremem-
berstheApolloclassof1964,which
includedGeneCernanandBuzz
Aldrin,asthemost“disciplinedand
alert”cohortofstudentsheeverhad.
Inthelead-uptotheApollo 11
launch,O’BrienpersuadedNASAto
includeinthepayloadasmallbox
thesizeofa thickbarofsoap,
whosemainfunctionwas
tomeasuretheaccu-
mulation of dust
on the moon’s
surface.O’Brien
describesitas“a
delightfullymin-
imalist”device.
TheDustDetec-
torExperiment,
orDDE,wasper-
hapstheleastim-
pressivecomponent
oftheApollo 11 science
package.Butitworkedwell
enoughthattheagency included
modifiedversionsoftheoriginalDDE
onallsubsequentApolloflights.
Fourofthemarestillupthere,and
tothisdaytheyholdtherecordfor
longestcontinuallyoperating exper-
iments on the moon.
Formanyyears,thedatathatthe
earlyDDEssentbacktoEarthwas
thoughttobelost.Sinceitsrediscov-
eryin2006,thoseintheinnercircle
ofouterspaceactivitieshaveslowly
beguntorealisethatO’Brien’sdetec-
torshavea lotmoretotellusabout
moondust.Now85,sprightlyandliv-
inginPerth,O’Brienhasbeenwait-
inghalfa centuryforthechanceto
sharewiththeworldwhatheknows
aboutoneofthesolarsystem’s most
baff ling substances.O’BRIENALWAYShadanaffinity
for extremeenvironments.Hetook
upspelunking[caveexplo-
ration] as ateenager
andoncegotstuck
in thedepths of
theYarrangobilly
CavesinNSW’s
KosciuszkoNa-
tionalParkfor
79 hours. The
experiencewas
traumatisingbut
itdidn’tputhim
offcaving. Afew
yearslater,whileex-
ploringa crystalgrotto,
hemethisfuturewife,Avril
Searle.
By23,O’Brienhadcompleteda
PhDinphysicsattheUniversityof
Sydneyandbeenappointeddepu-
tychiefphysicistfortheCommon-
wealthAntarcticDivision.Hewas
assigned to the icebreakerMag gaTHEDDE
SOLDIERED ON
AND QUICKLY
REVEALED THE
MISCHIEFDUST
COULD MAKE
113
The Moondust Diaries