http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/ Engadget Comments for Spaceship "force field" could protect astronauts on trip to Mars http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 7:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
Here's a podcast interview about the shield technology

http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/07-08/feb02.html]]>Nov 4th 2008 11:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 5th 2008 7:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 7:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 7:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 7:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 5th 2008 5:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
...oh wait.]]>Nov 4th 2008 7:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
waaaaay better than terrain pron... chicks there have 3 fun bags!]]>Nov 4th 2008 7:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
best line of that movie.]]>Nov 5th 2008 7:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 7:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 7:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 8:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 11:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 7:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 7:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 8:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 8:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 8:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/If I remember correctly they have already managed to bend microwaves so that objects are invisible to radar (is it microwaves?)]]>Nov 4th 2008 9:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 11:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 5th 2008 1:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 9:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 9:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 4th 2008 10:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/m2p2_winglee_010621.html
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With Moore's Law and nano technology, etc., we live in some pretty exciting times!]]>Nov 5th 2008 12:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
right now the best way to do so is with a nuclear (or in the case of this particular one, fusion) reactions, which create a magnetic field.

we can make one that can surround a spacecraft, but the problem is it takes a LOT of energy to do so with our current technololgy, thus the need for something more feasible]]>Nov 5th 2008 3:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
hmmmm... anyone thinking the same as me, or I'm just weird. ]]>Nov 5th 2008 5:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
It's needed to survive in space for a prolonged period of time. The moon missions took days. Not long enough for the radiation to cause more than a mild irritation when the astronauts tried to close their eyes (as they would report *flashes* when they did). A mars mission would leave the crew exposed for months.]]>Nov 5th 2008 6:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
there are only a few feasible ways of surviving a solar event if you're in space.
1. hide behind a lot of water or ballast. approx 5 meters (or was it feet? can't remember) will protect you from even high grade nuclear waste type alpha/beta/gamma decay. coincidentally we keep our spent fuel rods in such pools. swimming pools with lots of, erm, "water" to shield us from the rads.

or 2. a magnetic shield like the van allen belt of the earth, which "parts" the trajectory of the solar wind around the object. the earth has it's own magnetosphere, so the solar wind goes "around" us. it is also responsible for the aurora borealis seen at the poles during heavy solar activity.

the concern of background radiation, especially cosmic radiation and high energy particles such as neutrinos are quite an issue for prolonged exposure... as they travel right through you like a nanoscopic searingly hot needle and can pierce your dna.... which heals most of the time. that's the problem..... it's only "most" of the time.

for longer missions..... either a magnetosphere generator or lining the ship with water/ballast tanks to absorb these things is the way to go.]]>Dec 11th 2009 1:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/

]]>Nov 5th 2008 7:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 5th 2008 10:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
Windows 9 - Good enough for personal and business use... um, not so good on Mars.

Ok... Admitedely, this post sounded a whole lot funnier in my head before I typed it out.

Cheers]]>Nov 5th 2008 2:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/
Perhaps a hybrid system could be made? The electric one for severe solar weather and the perm-mag one for every day protection.

Think about it, despite the power generation problems, you have the weight of one serious coil of wire. Why not strategically placed and seriously powerful permanent magnets?]]>Nov 5th 2008 8:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/Nov 6th 2008 11:38AM