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Earth's radio signals may be protecting it from space radiation
The Earth's atmosphere bears precious little resemblance to what it looked like at the start of the Industrial Revolution. As radio technology has advanced and spread, the signals that transmitters produce -- specifically the Very Low Frequency (VLF) variety -- have changed the way that the upper atmosphere and the Van Allen Radiation Belts interact, according to a study recently published in the journal Space Science Reviews. In effect, these radio waves may be enveloping the globe like an electromagnetic comforter, protecting it from satellite-frying space radiation.
Space elevator ride may kill humans due to ionizing radiation
While Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Arthur C. Clarke have popularized the idea of a space elevator, there are still a few kinks that need to be worked out before we start having folks hit the "door close" button for a 100,000 kilometer (62,000 miles) ride. The latest problem, according to a new article in Acta Astronautica (we've really been meaning to renew our subscription), is that a space elevator would be so slow-moving (200 kph, or 124 mph) that the half-week spent in the Van Allen radiation belt would kill any living thing without proper shielding. The radiation belt, which contains "two concentric rings of charged particles trapped by Earth's magnetic fields" doesn't affect current astronauts going to and from space because they are moving too fast to be hit by the radiation. Still, Anders Jorgensen, one of the authors of the study, doesn't think that this 62,000 mile-high problem is insurmountable: "I'm confident that we can solve it, but it's going to make things a little more complicated and a little more expensive." We appreciate your reach-for-the-skies attitude Mr. Jorgensen, but isn't protecting people from dying more than just a "little" complicated? [Via Slashdot]
