Force Field
NASA is looking forward to future missions to the Moon, and possibly Mars -- involving people -- and are working on a host of issues that astronauts would have to contend with on their missions. One of the biggest issues is shielding astronauts from charged particles from the Sun or extrasolar sources. A novel concept that never took off, other than in SciFi, is the force field. NASA is currently looking at the possibility of erecting force fields around bases on the Moon.
The current idea being explored is to surround astronauts with a powerful electric field [PDF] with the same charge as incoming charged particles. Since like charges repel, the incoming charged particles would be bounced back into space. The leading design sees inflatable, conductive spheres about 5 metres in diameter being mounted above a lunar base. Negatively charged spheres would be higher, blocking all negatively charged particles, while positively charged spheres would be lower, blocking positively charged particles that make it through.
There are still many hurdles to overcome, but it seems like we may soon see SciFi become reality.
The current idea being explored is to surround astronauts with a powerful electric field [PDF] with the same charge as incoming charged particles. Since like charges repel, the incoming charged particles would be bounced back into space. The leading design sees inflatable, conductive spheres about 5 metres in diameter being mounted above a lunar base. Negatively charged spheres would be higher, blocking all negatively charged particles, while positively charged spheres would be lower, blocking positively charged particles that make it through.
There are still many hurdles to overcome, but it seems like we may soon see SciFi become reality.
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