On Friday, March 16, 2018 at 2:14:04 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote:
It's the only craft that can life enough weight to provide shielding
for astronauts.

https://phys.org/news/2018-03-space-...hazardous.html

I have seen earlier info on cosmic ray increase. Thanks, Rich, for
bringing this to my attention.

Interestingly, this may have significance right here on earth: the Little
Ice Age occurred during an extended quiet sun period. CERN has shown
that cosmic rays nucleate cloud formation and, as pointed out, the cosmic
ray intensity has increased 30% due to lessened solar wind. Are we in for
another extended period of global cooling? The LIA also had contributions
from major volcanic eruptions. It will be interesting to see just how
big an effect cosmic rays will have on cloud cover and global temperatures.