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An artificial magnetosphere could be generated around manned space craft en route to the Moon or Mars to protect the occupants from the potentially lethal radiation in space from the Sun. A superconducting ring on board such a space craft could produce a magnetic field, or mini-magnetosphere, similar to the Earth’s, which would create a Star Trek like ‘deflector or plasma shield A team of scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council) are set to construct an experimental magnetic shield that would protect explorers in their journeys between the planets. In the last year space agencies in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and India have announced their intention to resume human exploration of the Solar system, beginning with the Moon and perhaps ultimately moving on to Mars. But travel beyond the immediate vicinity of the Earth carries significant risks for astronauts, not the least of which is the exposure to sometimes high levels of radiation. Now a team of scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council) are set to construct an experimental magnetic shield that would protect explorers in their journeys between the planets. Dr Ruth Bamford will present this idea in her talk on Wednesday 18 April at the Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting in Preston. Cosmic rays and radiation from the Sun itself can cause acute radiation sickness in astronauts and even death. Between 1968 and 1973, the Apollo astronauts going to the moon were only in space for about 10 days at a time and were simply lucky not to have been in space during a major eruption on the sun that would have flooded their spacecraft with deadly radiation. In retrospect Neil Armstrong’s ‘one small step for Man’ would have looked very different if it had. On the International Space Station there is a special thick-walled room to which the astronauts have had to retreat during times of increased solar radiation. However on longer missions the astronauts cannot live within shielded rooms, since such shielding would add significantly to the mass of the spacecraft, making them much more expensive and difficult to launch. It is also now known that the ‘drip-drip’ of even lower levels of radiation can be as dangerous as acute bursts from the sun. On the surface of the Earth we are protected from radiation by the thick layers of the atmosphere. And the terrestrial magnetic field extends far into space, acting as a natural ‘force field’ to further protect our planet and deflecting the worst of the energetic particles from the Sun by creating a ‘plasma barrier’. Now scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire plan to mimic nature. They will build a miniature magnetosphere in a laboratory to see if a deflector shield can be used to protect humans living on space craft and in bases on the Moon or Mars. In order to work, an artificial mini-magnetosphere on a space craft will need to utilize many cutting edge technologies, such as superconductors and the magnetic confinement techniques used in nuclear fusion. Thus science is following science fiction once again. The writers of Star Trek realized that any space craft containing humans would need protection from the hazardous effects of cosmic radiation. They envisioned a ‘deflector shield’ spreading out from the Starship Enterprise that the radiation would bounce off. These experiments will help to establish whether this idea could one day become a practical reality. Issued by RAS Press Officers:
Anita Heward
National Astronomy Meeting Press Room (16 - 20 April
only):
RAS Web site: http://www.ras.org.uk/| RAS National Astronomy Meeting web site: http://nam2007.uclan.ac.uk| CONTACT(s): Dr Ruth Bamford
Professor Robert Bingham
Dr. Mike Hapgood
Dr Kieran Gibson
Tom Todd
Luis Gargate
Professor Luis Silva
The 2007 RAS National Astronomy Meeting is hosted by the University of Central Lancashire. It is sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society and the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. This year the NAM is being held together with the UK Solar Physics (UKSP) and Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial (MIST) spring meetings. 2007 is International Heliophysical Year. IMAGES: These are available directly from Dr Bamford and will be posted on the RAS NAM website at www.nam2007.uclan.ac.uk/press.php| and also at http://www.eiscat.rl.ac.uk/~ian/press_release/minimag_diagram.html| Caption: An artificial magnetosphere could be generated around manned space craft en route to the Moon or Mars to protect the occupants from the potentially lethal radiation in space from the Sun. A superconducting ring on board such a space craft could produce a magnetic field, or mini-magnetosphere, similar to the Earth’s, which would create a Star Trek like ‘deflector or plasma shield’. SOURCE: http://www.scitech.ac.uk/PMC/PRel/STFC/shield.aspx http://www.eiscat.rl.ac.uk/~ian/press_release/
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| Updated on Wednesday, 07 April 2010 NEWS & PRESS RAS PN 07/25 (NAM 21): SHIELDS FOR THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE - A REALITY? Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 April 2010 18:09 Published on Wednesday, 18 April 2007 00:00 Travel beyond the immediate vicinity of the Earth carries significant risks for astronauts, not the least of which is the exposure to sometimes high levels of radiation. Now a team of scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are set to construct an experimental magnetic shield that would protect explorers in their journeys between the planets. Dr Ruth Bamford will present this idea in her talk on Wednesday 18 April at the Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting in Preston... ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PRESS INFORMATION NOTE EMBARGOED FOR 00:01 BST, WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2007 Ref.: PN 07/ 25 (NAM 21) SOURCE: ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PRESS INFORMATION NOTE |
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ACTIVE SHIELDING CONCEPTS FOR THE IONIZING RADIATION IN SPACE prepared for
NASA was working electromagnetic sheilding fro spaceships as far back as 1964... perhaps this is where Gene Roddenberry got his ideas from? Summary: Studies have been made on the problems of shielding a spacecraft from ionizing radiation. Protons having energies between 100 and 1,000 MeV were taken as the radiation that should be excluded from the spacecraft's crew. An electromagnetic field system using a toroidal shaped spacecraft with a confined magnetic field is shown to be the lightest among those treated. Weight calculations were made for spacecraft having
crew spaces of 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000 cu. ft. Spheres, cylinders, toruses,
and spherical modules were selected for crew space configurations. Confined
magnetic
In general, the active shield weight is only 20% that
of the passive shield for high energy protons and for large sizes of spacecraft.
The shield with a confined field weighs 30% of that for a shield using
an unconfined field. If hatches are included, the use of spherical modules
leads to spacecraft that are lighter than spheres, cylinders, or toruses.
For spacecraft in the shape of a torus, a passively shielded hatch is not
required because there are no
ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19640021638_1964021638.pdf |
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