report_force field for astronauts

8/8/2019 Report_Force Field for Astronauts.

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Praxis Business School

White Paper on

FORCE FIELD for ASTRONAUTS.

A report

Submitted to

Dr. Prithwis Mukherjee

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the course

Business Information Studies

On 07/11/2010

By

Sana Khan


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ABSTRACT

NASAs vision forspace exploration is to create a lunar base which will act as a stepping stone for

longer journeys to Mars. But the biggest challenge they face is radiation. The space beyond the low-

Earth orbit is full of hazardoussolar radiations, which when exposed to, increases the risk of getting

cancer. In order to protect the astronauts and make manned trips to Mars a reality, researchers are

experimenting with the concept of opposite poles attract and like poles repel, which will enable them

to create a force field to shield spaceships and the astronauts from these radiations.

INTRODUCTION

According to most of the international space agencies, one of the greatest obstacles to space travels

which lasts long is the space weather. The cosmic rays and the radiations from the sun are big

threats to the astronauts in the space. Large numbers of energetically charged particles occur

imminently like storms without any signs or warnings, the earth is protected by a giant magnetic

bubble all around it which is called the magnetoshere. This magnetoshere is the earths natural force

field.

Let us understand how exactly are these solar radiations formed and why do they make the outerspace so dangerous to be in. the energetically charged particles that are whipped up because of the

explosions of the stars at a different galaxy and is thrown off at oursolarsystem which travels almost

as fast as the speed of light. The electrically charged particles when they come in contact with the

human body are capable ofsplitting our DNA into mutations form which greatly increases the risk of

getting cancer.

For the usual short expeditions to moon which lasts for about eight days, it has been possible for the

astronauts to avoid these dangerous and deadly solar radiations and solarstorms which increases

the chance of cancer and other maladies. But for an expedition to mars and beyond, its impossible for

the astronauts to avoid these storms. Therefore few of the British scientists are teaming up now with

the mission of making these trips and expeditions less deadly and more survivable for the astronauts

in the space, and a group of them say that they have made successful and real progress on that front

which will in turn help to resume the solar expeditions. Their idea is to use a mini-magnetoshere

(portable) around the spacecraft which will protect the spacecraft from the harmful and dangerous

cosmic rays and solar radiations by deflecting them.


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Force field, acting as a shield.

This works in the same way the magnetosphere around the earth works, this idea has been there for

a long time now, and only recently has it been taken beyond the realm of computersimulations. This

was possible because of the use of an apparatus which is unspecified and was originally built to work

on fusion, and this allowed the researchers to recreate a small piece ofSolar Wind and confirmed the

idea that a tiny hole in the wind would be necessary to keep the astronautssafe. The jump from the

laboratory to the spacecraft is of course a different matter altogether, but then the researchers believe

that there issome reality and promise in this idea.

THE IDEA.

The very first lesson of electromagnetism that we learn is that opposite charge attracts and like

charges repel. This very theory can help in saving the lives of the astronauts by protecting them from

the solar radiations.

These radiations consist of electrically charged particlessuch as high speed electrons and protons

from sun and huge amounts of positively charged atomic nuclei from the distant supernovas.Since

the like charges repel there is a possibility ofsurrounding the astronauts with powerful electric fields

that have the same charge as the solar radiations and cosmic raysso that these radiations get

deflected. In this case, like in several others,science is following fiction. The writers ofStar Trek were

the ones who had realised that a spacecraft which had humans would most certainly require a shield

which would protect them from the harmful effects of the cosmic radiations. They had come up with

the idea of a deflectorshield which wasspreading out from the Starship device and would bounce

back off the radiations. These experiments carried out will determine whether the concept of force

field will become a reality and will become practical one day.

According to researcher Bob Bingham of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford, England, told

the Agence France-Presse that the idea of force field is a lot like that of Star Trek, when Scotty in


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order to protect the starship Enterprise form the proton beams turn on the shield, he says that is it

almost identical to that.

A recent study in NASA hasshown that the concept of force field is becoming increasingly important

because manned mission to mars as of now is impossible, as the lead that shields the astronauts and

the space ship at present would be too heavy to get into orbit during the 18 month return trip to mars.

In the December of 2006,solar flare and a stream of charged particles that followed it, caused the

crew of the InternationalSpace Station (ISS) and space shuttle Discovery to hide behind very heavy

equipments to protect themselves, even though they were in low orbit and the ISS is very well

protected by the earths magnetic field. The use ofsuch heavy material is not practical to get into the

orbit for long durations and so developing the force field is essential for an expedition to the mars.

This is a picture of a space craft that is presently used and isshielded with lead, which makes the

space craft heavy.


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CURRENT SCENARIO

With the funding from NASA institute ofAdvanced Concepts the researchers and scientists have

found a way to use the electric field in such a way that they are able to deflect and divert the

electrically charged particles away from the future moon base.As building shields of heavy materials

using concrete and lead becomes very expensive and not feasible so research on force field and the

devices for it is becoming increasingly important to resume the space expeditions.

Force Field may one day make it possible for humans to make mars a home away from home.

Ruth Bamford, who is the lead author of the study and a plasma physicist of United Kingdom, has

commented that their primary device for force field islike star trek coming to life.The team has used

magnets to experiment with ways to deflect the solar radiations away from the astronauts in the outer

space. They have even written a paper on the subject which is available to all now. The paper is

called the interaction of flowing plasma with a dipole magnetic field: measurements and modelling of a

diamagnetic cavity relevant to spacecraft protection.In the abstract of this paper they say that they aredoing a new experiment to try and test the concept ofshielding by a dipole like magnetic field around

a spacecraft which would be like a mini magnetosphere. This invention of theirs is based on the

natural magnetosphere of the earth which protects all the living things on the planet from the harmful

radiations coming from the sun and the cosmic rays coming from all the parts of the outerspace.Dr.

Bamford has also said that the initial experiments that they have done hasshown promise and he

believes that protecting the astronauts using force field will be a reality and will be practical sometime

soon.


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The researchers of the Rutherford Appleton laboratories from the universities of York,Strathclyde and

IST Lisbon have done experiments using the know-how of the past 50 years of research on nuclear

fusion, to prove that it is possible for the astronauts to shield theirspacecraft and themselves from the

radiations using portable magnetic field also known as mini magnetosphere, which can scatter the

highly charged ionised particles of the solar flares and solar wind away from theirspacecraft.

The computerstimulation that was done by a team of researchers from Lisbon in the Rutherford

Appleton Laboratory recently has proved that a much smaller magnetic bubble of just a few hundred

metres across will be sufficient to protect an entire space craft.

In a laboratory in UK it has been confirmed that an originally built apparatus to work on fusion may

help in the deflection of radiations. They recreated in miniature a tiny bit ofsolar wind and the scientist

working in the laboratory were able to prove that a small hole in the solar wind was good enough to

protect and shield the astronauts and theirspace craft and would keep them safe on their journey to

the outerspace.

From the Didcot- based research centre Dr. Mike Hapgood had told BBC News that the magnetic

technology is very well developed on earth and now it should be taken into the next level that is into

the outerspace to help protect the astronauts there.

Even Charles Buhler and John Lane ofASRC ofAerospace Corporation who are NASA contractors

who are at the Floridas Kennedy Space Centres have used the idea of Robert Youngquist who is a

NASA engineer to design force fields and use it asshields against the solar radiations and cosmic

rays.

THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND FORCE FIELD.

According to Drexler Furthermore, who is trying to build a force field, there are two parts to building a

force field which are finding a functional form which will reflect the physics involved and also choosing

parameters which will be required by the form.As per his hypothesis, this function can be automated

and performed by cycle harvested desktop computers using large computations.The exploration of

functional forms can also be enhanced by the method of automated parameterization.When a

functional form is given, then the parameters are chosen in such a way that they fit in the

experimental values and/or an ab initio calculation.

The process of fitting can get difficult though as the functional form often tend to have many local

minima which usually traps the search algorithms.As of now this research team is developing the

JavaGenes genetic algorithm which will help evolve the force field parameter. These genetic

algorithm are less likely to fall into local minima than hill climbing orsimulated annealing. To prove the

concept they have also evolved the published parameters ofStillinger and Weber 90 forSci and F

separately which are not yet perfect but have had good results. They also expect to evolve the full

combined Sci-F published parameters over the next few months and then compare the results to the

parameters fitted to ab initio energy calculations.


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The diagram above is an artists concept of an electrostatic radiation shield, which consists of

positively charged innerspheresand the charge on the outersphere is negative. The screen net that

is there is connected to the ground. This image is courtesy of the ASRCAerospace sometime in the

1950s and it was based on the first idea of building such electrostatic radiation shield in order protect

and shield the astronauts. But then this idea was dropped pretty quickly, because the high voltage

required and the awkward design that they thought was needed, like having to put the astronauts in

the two metallic spheres made the whole idea of making these electrostatic radiation shields look

impractical.

But then the approach of Buhler and Lane is different.According to them a lunar base would have asmany as half a dozen orso of conductive spheres which are inflatable and will be about 5 metres

across mounted over the base. Then the spheres which are there would be charged up to a very high

static electrical potential which would be as high as 100 megavolts or even higher than that. This

amount of voltage is very large but because very little current would be flowing, as the charge would

be sitting statically over the spheres, very little current would be required to maintain the charge. The

mentioned spheres would be made of thin but very strong fabric such as Vectran (usually used for the

landing balloons which cushion the effect for the Mars Expedition Rovers), and would be coated with

a thin layer of a conductor like gold. The spheres of fabric could be transported by folding them and

can be inflated anywhere by just loading them with an electric charge; in the gold layer the like

charges of the electrons will repel each other, thus forcing the sphere to expand and inflate outward.

The way the voltage of the sphere would vary above the lunar base can be seen in the diagram

below:


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rotection to theastronauts as they

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his electrostatic fieldcanalsobeused forvehicles that mayrunon themoon.

hough theentire

concept sounds interestingandonderful, thereare still problems and issues

hich

ill have tobe

looked into in this context.

ike somesceptics feel that electrostatic shields are susceptibleas the

chargecanbe short circuitedby the floatingmoondust,hichare themselves chargedby the solar

ultraviolet radiations. Even the solar

inds that blowcancauseproblems.

heelectrons andprotons

that arepresent in thewindmayget trappedby themazeof the forces that make the shield,which

could lead tovery strongandunintendedcharges andcurrent right overhead theastronauts which is

dangerous forthem. Buhlersays that theresearch is still in its early stageand theyareconsideringtheobstacles andchallenges of the solarwind, floatingmoondust and the trappedelectrons and

protons.

heyevenacknowledge the fact that a totallydifferent kindof shieldmaywork betterand

would turnout tobemorepractical, likea superconductingmagnetic field.

hebasic ideaof the shield is linkedwith thedeflectorshields whichprotect the"SS Enterpriseand

otherspacecrafts in themovie startrek.

ike in the fictional counterpart that is shown, these

electromagnetic shields canalsobe switchedonandoff. NASAalsoplans onbuildingapermanent

moonbasewhichcouldbeburiedunder the lunarsoil andwouldprotect theequipment and the


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astronauts from the hazardous radiations.But when the inhabitants would be venturing out they would

then be exposed to the dangers of the radiations and solarstorms.

Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6567709.stm

The above mentioned planned moon base would looksomething like the diagram shown here.

But according to Dr. Hapgood the warning system forsolar flares that they have been working on is

not very good and efficient which greatly increases the risk of getting exposed to the radiations. In

case of problem nobody would want to wait for a week for the problem to get fixed, a device would be

needed to deploy on the surface as a shield which will be able to fix a problem in 10minutes and will

add extra level ofsafety.

The core idea for the shields is drawn from the technology which is pioneered in the nuclear fusion

reactor. But nuclear fusion is not a very mature technology as of now. Its working is based on the

principal that can energy can be released by forcing the atomic nuclei together rather than by splitting

them up, like what is now done in the case of fission reactions which runs the nuclear powerstations.

In UK at Culhams Jet Experimental Fusion facility, magnetic fields were used so as to keep the

plasma away from the reactors innersphere, these acts as a reversal to that technology.According

to Dr. Bramford, they want to use the same technology and technique to keep the object in the middle

protected and away from the plasma which is on the outside. But the plasma needed to protect

against the solar winds and radiations will be much weaker compared to the one that is generated in

the experimental fusion reactors like Jet.

Researchers also believe that they can make the force field stronger by the way of filling the magneticfield with plasma which is a cloud of ionised particles.According to them the speeding particles of the

radiation can be slowed down because of the plasma.Since the radiation that will be penetrating the

plasma will generate and give rise to the waves that will give rise to strong electric field, and this

electric field will in turn help to slow down the speed of the particles.


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Constraints of the Radiation Shield Design

There are a lot of constraints which are fundamental to the construction, design and operation of a

practical lunar radiation shield discussed above.Some of these constraintsare as follows:

ELECTRICAL CONSTRAINTS:

y Electrical Breakdown of Materials: The electric field strength must remain below a particular

value or else it will cause the electric breakdown of the materials. This is a geometric problem

as well as a materials problem.

y High-Voltage PowerSupply Limitation: On earth, the powersupplies have yet not been built

that will supply voltages higher than 20MV. For a lunar radiation shield this voltage has to be

increased by at least 5 factors forSPE particles and a factor of 50 or more than that for GCR

particles for useful performance.

y Power Consumption: To constraint the power requirement, the collision of the charged

particles with the electrodes that leads to current must be minimized.

MECHANICAL CONSTRAINTS:

y Forces Internal to the Structure: The coulomb forces between the electrodes must not be

greater than the mechanical strength of the materials. For example, in the case of thin film

polymers the tensile strength cannot be exceeded.

y Size and Mass:The size and weight cannot be too large as they are restricted by factors and

considerationssuch as transporting it to the lunarsurface and the practical assembling and

construction of the shield on the surface of the moon.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTRAINTS:

y Surface Dust and Free Electrons: The design should be such that it avoids the surface dust

and the free electrons from getting attracted to the high-voltage electrodes of the lunar

radiation shield.

y Brehmsstrahlung X Rays: The electrons of the solar wind which are accelerated by high

voltage positive electrode must not be allowed to decelerate suddenly and abruptly as a result

of collisions with the electrodes material.


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Use and Business Model of Force Field

Successfully creating a force field would be a big asset and boon forNASA and the astronauts.As it

will not only help in setting up a moon base but will also be a stepping stone towards making manned

trips to Mars a reality. The future space missions can become very safe for the astronauts and the

spacecraft because of the different devices that are being researched on and being designed using

the technology of force field, as they will help to reduce the risk of the astronauts getting exposed to

the hazardoussolar radiations.

The picture above shows how a moon base can be set up by using the technology of force field.

The scientist Hapgood says that if they have to make their plans of putting up a moon base then a

force field is very essential, it would act like a virtual umbrella to all those who will have to work

outside in the space.Since the moon has very little or no magnetic field the impact and effect of

radiations is much higher than that of Mars. The sudden outbursts of the sun are the biggest threat of

radiations that the astronauts face in the space. These radiations come without a warning and the

radiation alarm system that is put up by NASA and the USspace agency only give a few minutes

warning which is not enough to avoid the radiation.

Dr. Hapgood also says that if they have to make solar trips possible than building up a force field is

very important. The prevailing technology can only enable a trip to mars and then back but long trips

become a matter of great concern as they not only harm the astronauts but can also damage circuits,

corrupt software thus putting the entire mission at a risk.


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The picture shown above is the view of a solar flare which causes a lot of danger to the astronauts.

As of now force field seems like the only economical and practical way ofshielding and protecting the

astronauts and the space ships in the outerspace, thiswill enable the astronauts to go for manned

trips for mars expeditions for a longer duration of time, which till date has not been done because of

the fear and the risk of the astronauts getting exposed to the dangeroussolar radiations and solar

storms.

The day the technology of force field becomes a success all of us might benefit from it.As other than

deflecting the radiations the force field will be able to help us in a number of ways. For instance a

force field may be applied in case of automobilesso as to prevent collisions, it might be used in

around our houses to deflect the ultra violet rays from entering and may even be used for us humans,

specially by the soldiers to deflect a fast approaching bullet. Once the technology becomes applicable

a lot of alternate uses of it can be found.

Conclusion

There are a lot of hurdles in building and developing of a practical electrostatic radiation shield, the

primary hurdle being the voltage generation and the prevention of the voltage breakdown of the

components of the shield. There are a few questions which arises though,such as can the

Brehmsstrahlung radiation be sufficiently reduced or eliminated if the spheres are fabricated with thin

polymer materials which have high tensile strength and high dielectric.And can the power required

and consumed by the shield be small enough to make the design of the radiation shield practical i.e.

taking a note of the leakage of current caused by the capture of charged particles.

The combined magnetostatic and electrostatic shield system which has been explained above might

not be a very practical approach since the inclusion of a magnetic component brings with it most of

the problems of the magnet-only shield system like weight,size and mass.But continuing simulations

of the electromagnetostatic configuration nonethelessmight bring out interesting results.

The other logical step will be to logically investigate the material properties of the conductive coated

polymers that will be used on the spherical balloons. Experiments and simulations have to be

continued in order to determine whether it is feasible to create such a high-voltage system on the

lunar base.


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Parts of the experiments are proving to be practical, but then building the entire technology for the

lunar base is a huge challenge and till now no device has been built which is perfect and would work

in space. Therefore a lot of research and experimentsstill needs to be done on it, there are still a lot

of fundamental problems that needs to be investigated for creating a successful solarshield.

The experiment on shielding using dipole which was done by Dr. Bamford has been quite successful

and according to her chances of an experiment working in the first try is a rare phenomenon. But the

success of this experiment shows that there is hope of building a force field which is actually practical

and feasible. For eventually developing a Star Trek like force field care has to be taken to make sure

that the magnetic field does not enter the space craft and harm the astronauts. The day is not far

when force field will be a reality which will enable us to set up a lunar base and then go on

expeditions to mars and may be farther.


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REFERENCE

y Spaceship force field could protect astronauts on trip to mars. By Donald Melanson.

y A Force Field forAstronauts.Author: Patrick L. Barry.Science News; NASA

y Protective Force Field forAstronauts. By Atismohanty Posted by Technologies of tomorrow.

y Spaceship Mini-Magnetoshpere force field makes Mars astronaut trip possible. By Martin

Dolan.

y Analysis of a Lunar Base Electrostatic Radiation Shield Concept. Final Report forASRC

Aerospace Corporation. By Charles R. Buhler and Leon Wichmann.

y Force Field Might Shield Astronauts on Way to Mars. FOX NEWS,November 06, 2008.

y Spaceship Force Field. Based on a Institute of Physics news release.

y Star Trek force field could help protect real astronauts in space. By William Atkins.Science-

Space.

y Google Images.

LINKS

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2005/24jun_electrostatics/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/04/spaceship-force-field-could-protect-

astronauts-on-trip-to-mars/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,447327,00.html

http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/2925/spaceship-force-field

http://www.itwire.com/science-news/space/21554-star-trek-force-field-could-help-

protect-real-astronauts-in-space?start=2

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