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Welcome to the Sunday Paper Club. Every Sunday, this blog will offer analysis of a paper on space habitation and other related topics. These are my opinions on a weekly scientific paper; basically I read the paper and write down my thoughts are I read it. They are subject to my perspectives and believes. I am open to debate, so if any reader believes I have misinterpreted something in a paper, please point it out. I'm only a student and I'm still learning how to read these papers and interpret them. All quotes are from the paper unless otherwise noted. All papers I review are available for free online.
This week we are reviewing a Analyses of a Lunar Base Electrostatic Radiation Shield Concept.
Current radiation shielding is... lackluster. What we use is passive radiation shielding, in the form of plastics. Materials which have a lot of hydrogen in them are effective radiation shielding. But, aluminum, which is the material of choice for spacecraft, produces deadlier radiation when cosmic radiation hits it (Brehmsstrahlung X-Rays is the deadlier radiation produced). At least, according the the Series Mars Rising. We are considering making making spacecraft out of a hydrogen based material, but the shielding effect isn't perfect. The crew will still have to move into a radiation bunker in the ship or in the base in a solar storm.
But, what if we had active shielding. In theory, you could have a radiation shield that allowed particles to slow down. This would avoid Brehmsstrahlung X-Rays since they are produced by sudden changes in a radioactive particles' velocity.
The shield will consist of two spheres made out of gold "plated" Kapton. Kapton is used for it's ability to with stand high voltages. The spheres will be held up by the repulsive forces of like charges. One could achieve the same effect with a Spherical Solenoid (A wire, wrapped into a sphere that when current is applied, creates an magnetic field.)
But, there is a problem with these spheres. The electro-magnetic shield is in the shape of a sphere that just touches the ground. So, particles that just skim the ground will get past the shield. This system also needs 100+ megavolts to produce the shielding effect. High voltage power lines have about 110 kilovolts running through them. That's 100,000,000 volts vs. 110,000 volts. That's a bolt of lighting running around your head. I have trouble imaging a space habitation producing that many volts. However, you could easily keep a system like this cold by exposing it to space.
So, Energy shield are possible, but impractical.
