Shielding Spacecrafts from Cosmic Radiations
- Paper number
IAC-07-E2.3.04
- Author
Mr. Rohit Priyadarshi, India
- Coauthor
Mr. Kailash Chandra Patel, India
- Year
2007
- Abstract
ABSTRACT In science friction, it is generally depicted that the worst threat to space travelers are large ones: careening asteroids, ravenous creatures, imperial battle cruisers, futuristic spacecrafts etc. But in reality though, the scariest menace for humans in space are the fast moving elementary particles, known as the cosmic rays. On a long journey, they would give astronauts a dose of radiation serious enough to cause cancer. Unlike most of other challenges of venturing into deep space, which engineers should be able to solve given enough time and money, cosmic rays pose irreducible risks, and dealing with them involves fundamental trade-offs. They could be the show stopper for visiting Mars. These rays can rip apart DNA in addition to causing cancer, cataract and brain damage. Astronauts in near earth orbit are shielded by earth’s magnetic field. A spherical shell of water or plastic, magnetic shield, electrostatic shield may prevent those making long voyages. The paper in its original form discusses all such possible methods of designing spacecrafts to protect astronauts traveling deep into space without serious health consequences.
- Abstract document