Studeo
30th July 2010, 19:59
Interplanetary adventurers must contend with deadly solar radiation – but the moon's magnetic memories may hold the key to safe space flight
BORED on their six-month journey to Mars? Not a bit of it. Whenever the astronauts look out of the window, they find themselves mesmerised by the glowing, shimmering sphere of plasma that surrounds their spacecraft. Hard to believe that the modest electromagnet at the heart of their ship can produce something so beautiful.
Not that the magnet's raison d'ętre is aesthetic, of course. Its main function is to keep the astronauts from a slow, horrible death by radiation sickness....
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727701.300-shields-up-force-fields-could-protect-mars-missions.html?page=1
BORED on their six-month journey to Mars? Not a bit of it. Whenever the astronauts look out of the window, they find themselves mesmerised by the glowing, shimmering sphere of plasma that surrounds their spacecraft. Hard to believe that the modest electromagnet at the heart of their ship can produce something so beautiful.
Not that the magnet's raison d'ętre is aesthetic, of course. Its main function is to keep the astronauts from a slow, horrible death by radiation sickness....
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727701.300-shields-up-force-fields-could-protect-mars-missions.html?page=1