Solar Flares Shield Astronauts from Cosmic Rays 135
It doesn't come easy writes "Considering all of the research into better shielding for astronauts, it's interesting to note that solar flares can help shield space travelers from dangerous cosmic rays. From the article: "The crew of the ISS absorbed about 30% fewer cosmic rays than usual [during this last month of high solar activity]," says Frank Cucinotta, NASA's chief radiation health officer at the Johnson Space Center. "The storms actually improved the radiation environment inside the station." Scientists have long known about this phenomenon. It's called a "Forbush decrease," after American physicist Scott E. Forbush, who studied cosmic rays in the 1930s and 40s. So, I guess it would be safer to plan a manned Mars mission to coincide with peak sunspot activity?"
Magnetize the hull? (Score:4, Insightful)
Might turn out Enterprise's "ionize the hull" isn't as much sci-fi nonesense as it first sounds.
Mars trip during solar storm (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, that could be a logical conclusion from the article. BUT, what also occurs during major sunspot activity?. Mondo solar flares! Yes, they may help suppress the Cosmic Radiation. But, I sure wouldn't want to be stuck somewheres in the vast space between Mars and Earth with one of these monsters heading for me. The spaceship would be hit like a rowboat in a hurricane, in terms of solar radiation.
ISS is inside the van allens/earh's magnetic field (Score:4, Insightful)
1/r^2 kills this (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if I'm off by many orders of magnitude (IANAP), the required field strength will be unattainably high.
Re:Mars trip during solar storm (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Forbush decrease? (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, at least your karma didn't spanked for it like mine did...
</whine>