To boldly go where no man has gone before - new 'force field' technology will protect astronauts on their journey to the planets

Force field technology used to protect spaceships in science fiction programmes could soon become science fact, thanks to experiments by researchers at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Universities of York and Strathclyde, and the IST Lisbon.

The experiments, based on 50 years of research into nuclear fusion, show it is possible for astronauts to shield their spacecrafts from the harmful effect of radiation from solar storms with a giant ‘magnetic bubble’. The shield would be similar to the Earth’s own magnetosphere which protects us from the deadly radiation of cosmic rays - energetic particles originating from our own Sun and elsewhere in space. The findings are published today (November 4) by the Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing’s Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.

The idea for these shields has been around since the 1960’s but it was thought impractical because it was believed that only a very large (> 100km wide) magnetic bubble could possibly work.

More recent computer simulations by researchers in Lisbon, working with scientists at STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, show that theoretically a very much smaller ‘magnetic bubble’ of only several hundred meters across would be enough to protect a spacecraft. It would scatter the highly charged, ionised particles of solar wind and solar flares and allow astronauts to travel further in space without the threat of deadly radiation sickness. This would make man’s first mission to Mars a much greater possibility.”

Using apparatus originally built to work on fusion, the researchers have recreated, in miniature, a tiny piece of Solar Wind in a ‘bottle’ and have confirmed that a small ‘hole’ in the Solar Wind is all that would be needed to keep the astronauts safe on their journey to our nearest neighbours.

The Apollo astronauts of the 1960’s and 70’s who walked upon the Moon are the only humans to have travelled beyond the Earth’s natural ‘force field’ – the Earth’s magnetosphere. With typical journeys to the Moon lasting about 8 days, the Apollo astronauts were simply lucky not to have encountered a major eruption on the Sun that would have flooded their spacecraft with deadly radiation. A journey to Mars, however, would take about eighteen months, during which time it is almost certain that astronauts would be enveloped by such a storm.

Dr. Ruth Bamford, one of the lead researchers at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, said, “These initial experiments have shown promise and that it may be possible to shield astronauts from deadly space weather."

Notes for editors

Contacts

• Julia Short
  STFC Press Office
  Tel: + 44 (0)1793 442 012
  
  
• Joe Winters
  IOP Press Officer
  Tel: + 44 (0)20 7470 4815
  

Online version of "The Interactions of a flowing plasma with a dipole magnetic field: measurements and modelling of a diamagnetic cavity relevant to spacecraft protection (link opens in a new window)" (R Bamford et al 2008 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 50 124025).

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion (PPCF) (link opens in a new window) is one of the leading plasma physics journals in the world. Widely read and highly cited, PPCF covers all aspects of the physics of hot, highly ionised plasmas.

The Institute of Physics (link opens in a new window)is a scientific membership organisation devoted to increasing the understanding and application of physics. It has an extensive worldwide membership (currently around 34 000) and is a leading communicator of physics with all audiences from specialists through government to the general public. Its publishing company, IOP Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics.

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