Scientists are planning to see whether deflector shields could be built to protect astronauts from radiation. They say that magnetic shields could be deployed around spacecraft and on the surfaces of planets to deflect harmful energetic particles. There are a number of issues facing future space explorers, not least of which is the cancer-causing radiation from cosmic rays and solar flares that astronauts will encounter when they venture beyond the Earth's protective magnetic envelope, or magnetosphere. Between 1968 and 1973, the Apollo astronauts were only in space for about 10 days at a time. They were just very lucky not to have been in space during a major eruption on the Sun that would have flooded their spacecraft with deadly radiation. Crew members on the International Space Station can retreat to a thick-walled ‘panic room’ during times of increased solar radiation.
To create the deflector shield around a spacecraft or on the surface of a planet or moon, we would need to generate a magnetic field and then fill it with plasma held in place by a stable magnetic field. The team from Rutherford-Appleton plans to build an artificial magnetosphere in the laboratory. They would eventually like to fly a test satellite which would test the technology in space. The idea for the shields draws on technology pioneered in experimental nuclear fusion reactors on the principle that energy can be released by forcing together atomic nuclei rather than by splitting them. Damn clever stuff!.
Can they beam Matter yet? What about warp drive?
Posted by: B Alexander | April 24, 2007 at 02:43 PM