Shields for the Starship Enterprise -- A reality? (Forwarded)

Royal Astronomical Society
London, U.K.

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Robert Massey
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 4582
AND
Anita Heward
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NATIONAL ASTRONOMY MEETING PRESS ROOM (16 - 20 APRIL ONLY):
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CONTACTS:

Dr Ruth Bamford
Space Science and Technology Department
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Tel: +44 (0)1235 446 517

Professor Robert Bingham
Space Science and Technology Department
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
R.Bingham @ rl.ac.uk

Dr. Mike Hapgood
Space Science and Technology Department
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Tel: +44 (1235) 446520

Dr Kieran Gibson
Sackville Street Building
University of Manchester
Manchester M60 1QD
Tel: +44 (0) 161 306 3927

Tom Todd
EFDA-JET
Culham Science Centre
Abingdon
Oxfordshire OX14 3DB
Tel: +44 (0)1235 46 5399

Luis Gargate
Centro de Fica dos Plasmas
Instituto Superior Tnico
1049-001 Lisboa
PORTUGAL

Professor Luis Silva
Sackville Street Building
University of Manchester
Manchester M60 1QD

From 16 to 20 April, Dr Bamford and Professor Hapgood can be contacted via
the NAM press office (see above).

PRESS INFORMATION NOTE: RAS PN 07/25 (NAM 21)

EMBARGOED FOR 00:01 BST, WEDNESDAY, 18 APRIL 2007

SHIELDS FOR THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE -- A REALITY?

In the last year space agencies in the United States, Europe, China, Japan
and India have announced their intention to resume human exploration of the
Solar system, beginning with the Moon and perhaps ultimately moving on to
Mars. But travel beyond the immediate vicinity of the Earth carries
significant risks for astronauts, not the least of which is the exposure to
sometimes high levels of radiation. Now a team of scientists at the
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are set to construct an experimental magnetic
shield that would protect explorers in their journeys between the planets.
Dr Ruth Bamford will present this idea in her talk on Wednesday 18 April at
the Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting in Preston.

Cosmic rays and radiation from the Sun itself can cause acute radiation
sickness in astronauts and even death. Between 1968 and 1973, the Apollo
astronauts going to the moon were only in space for about 10 days at a time
and 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. In
retrospect Neil Armstrong's 'one small step for Man' would have looked very
different if it had.

On the International Space Station there is a special thick-walled room to
which the astronauts have had to retreat during times of increased solar
radiation. However on longer missions the astronauts cannot live within
shielded rooms, since such shielding would add significantly to the mass of
the spacecraft, making them much more expensive and difficult to launch. It
is also now known that the 'drip-drip' of even lower levels of radiation can
be as dangerous as acute bursts from the sun.

On the surface of the Earth we are protected from radiation by the thick
layers of the atmosphere. And the terrestrial magnetic field extends far
into space, acting as a natural 'force field' to further protect our planet
and deflecting the worst of the energetic particles from the Sun by creating
a 'plasma barrier'.

Now scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire plan to
mimic nature. They will build a miniature magnetosphere in a laboratory to
see if a deflector shield can be used to protect humans living on space
craft and in bases on the Moon or Mars.

In order to work, an artificial mini-magnetosphere on a spacecraft will need
to utilise many cutting edge technologies, such as superconductors and the
magnetic confinement techniques used in nuclear fusion.

Thus science is following science fiction once again. The writers of Star
Trek realised that any spacecraft containing humans would need protection
from the hazardous effects of cosmic radiation. They envisioned a 'deflector
shield' spreading out from the Starship Enterprise that the radiation would
bounce off. These experiments will help to establish whether this idea could
one day become a practical reality.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The 2007 RAS National Astronomy Meeting is hosted by the University of
Central Lancashire. It is sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society and
the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.

This year the NAM is being held together with the UK Solar Physics (UKSP)
and Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar-Terrestrial (MIST) spring meetings.
2007 is International Heliophysical Year.

IMAGES

These are available directly from Dr Bamford at
http://www.eiscat.rl.ac.uk/~ian/pres...g_diagram.html
and will be posted on the RAS NAM website at
http://www.nam2007.uclan.ac.uk/press...20070418g1.jpg (378KB)

Caption:
An artificial magnetosphere could be generated around manned space craft en
route to the Moon or Mars to protect the occupants from the potentially
lethal radiation in space from the Sun. A superconducting ring on board such
a spacecraft could produce a magnetic field, or mini-magnetosphere, similar
to the Earth's, which would create a Star Trek like 'deflector or plasma
shield'.