Monday, 27th June 2005 (4744 views)

In a bid to protect astronauts travelling to the Moon and Mars, scientists are looking into creating force field technology.

Scientists are constantly trying to find various ways to protect astronauts from the risk of getting cancer and other problems, mostly focusing on physical solutions.

However a force field would offer plenty of shielding power and could work by using the same charges as the incoming radiation, which would in turn deflect the radiation away, according to United Press International.

Charles Buhler and John Lane, both scientists with ASRC Aerospace Corporation at NASA's Kennedy Space Center are confident such a method could be used, despite cynicism from other people in the sector.

With support from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, the men are now looking into using a lunar base with half a dozen inflatable conductive spheres that would have a thin layer of conductive gold on them.

The fabric spheres could be folded for transport and inflated by loading them with an electric charge, with electrons in the gold layer repelling each other and forcing outward expansion of the sphere.

It is hoped the spheres could even be made portable and mounted onto moon buggies to allow protection as astronauts explore surfaces.

However the idea still has a long way to go and Mr Buhler explained that problems such as moon dust and solar wind still need to be investigated.

 

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