philemmons
04-19-07, 06:41 PM
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42816000/jpg/_42816183_startrek_bamford_416border.jpg
British scientists are planning to see whether a Star Trek-style deflector shield could be built to protect astronauts from radiation.
They argue that magnetic shields could be deployed around spacecraft and on the surfaces of planets to deflect harmful energetic particles.
Several countries' space agencies have announced their intentions to resume human exploration of the Solar System.
Scientists hope to mimic the magnetic field which protects the Earth.
Details have been presented at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Preston, UK.
There are a variety of risks 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.
The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of the energetic particles from space; others are largely absorbed by the atmosphere.
Between 1968 and 1973, the Apollo astronauts were only in space for about 10 days at a time.
They 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.
Crew members on the International Space Station can retreat to a thick-walled room during times of increased solar radiation.
beam me up scotty... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6567709.stm)
British scientists are planning to see whether a Star Trek-style deflector shield could be built to protect astronauts from radiation.
They argue that magnetic shields could be deployed around spacecraft and on the surfaces of planets to deflect harmful energetic particles.
Several countries' space agencies have announced their intentions to resume human exploration of the Solar System.
Scientists hope to mimic the magnetic field which protects the Earth.
Details have been presented at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Preston, UK.
There are a variety of risks 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.
The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of the energetic particles from space; others are largely absorbed by the atmosphere.
Between 1968 and 1973, the Apollo astronauts were only in space for about 10 days at a time.
They 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.
Crew members on the International Space Station can retreat to a thick-walled room during times of increased solar radiation.
beam me up scotty... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6567709.stm)