Star Trek Shields Now a Possibility?

An anonymous reader writes "British scientists have announced their intent to build a Star Trek-style magnetic shielding system to help protect astronauts from radiation. 'There are a variety of risks facing future space explorers, not least of which is the cancer-causing radiation encountered when missions venture beyond the protective magnetic envelope, or magnetosphere, which shields the Earth against these energetic particles. The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of these particles; others are largely absorbed by the atmosphere.'"

Hmmm...

[Cpt_Kirks]

This is damn peculiar...

(I really should have raised them)

Re:Hmmm...

[ez76]

Recipe for a Slashdot "science" article:

1. Identify a nascent technology or scientific discovery, "A"
2. Identify a cool but implausible gimmick from a vintage science fiction movie/TV show, "B"
3. Pose headline asking: Does "A" imply "B"?
4. Watch as jokes about vintage science fiction movie/TV show "B" ensue.
5. Optional: Geeky sexual innuendo about the most attractive female character on "B"
6. Generate ad impressions

Re:Hmmm...

[VJ42]

you forgot:
7. ???
and
8. Profit!
Sorry, but I couldn't resist. :P

Re:Hmmm...

[Cpt_Kirks]

You also forgot:

"Have poster with screen name similar to character in SciFi show make inane comment based on line from said show".

Mods: look at his handle

[pragma_x]

Scotty, mod him up.

Re:Mods: look at his handle

[slashbob22]

Captain, I don't have the power..

No really, I am out of mod points.

Re:Mods: look at his handle

[CptPicard]

I would tell you to just make it so but it appears others already did...

Re:

[Skevin]

Then, for Heaven's Sake, divert power from high-karma posts and meta-moderation!

Solomon

Re:

[SeaFox]

Scotty, mod him up.

In Soviet Federation, Chekov mods YOU!

Re:

[FooAtWFU]

Actually, I was listening to the BBC World Service on our local NPR station this morning, and they had a snippet comparing this to Star Trek as well. (I didn't really listen: it was towards the end and I was heading to class). I thought it was a pretty stupid comparison as well, since "magnetic shielding against charged particles" is really a very small subset of the phantasmagorical array of capabilities which are ascribed to Star Trek shields.

Re:Hmmm...

[jdray]

Particularly in ST:TNG where most problems were solved by reconfiguring the deflector array to emit some heretofore unmentioned particle or wave.

"Geordi! The shower in my quarters is broken, and I haven't bathed in days."

"No problem, sir. I'll just reconfigure the deflector array to emit B.O. antiprotons, negating the effects emmanating from your pits."

Re:Hmmm...You Forgot...

[Nom du Keyboard]

1. Identify a nascent technology or scientific discovery, "A"
.
.
.
6. Generate ad impressions

7. Profit!

Member #16309 on the subject of shields...

[MS-06FZ]

"Raise them!"
(*whine, thrash, pout*)"I CAN'T!"

Maybe with this

[soft_guy]

Maybe with this kind of a shielding system we might be able to put a man on the moon for real.

Re:

[kahrytan]

  The moon is protected by the Earth's magnetosphere. It is in orbit after all.

Re:

[hkmarks]

No, unfortunately it's too far away.

The Earth's magnetopause is at about 15 Earth radii on the sun-side. The Van Allen radiation belts are below 10 Earth radii. The moon orbits at about 60 Earth radii.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetosphere [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon#Orbit_and_relati onship_to_Earth [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Allen_radiation_b elt [wikipedia.org]

Most terrestrial bodies in the solar system have very weak magnetic fields, much weaker than that of Earth. The moon has none to speak of, because

Alas

[rlp]

They'll probably need to leave them turned on at all times, so no one will get to say "Shields Up!".

Thats OK.

[pavon]

As long as they can redirect primary power from the sheild to the deflector dish, I will be happy. They will have a deflector dish right? ... Right?

It's never so simple...

[arcite]

By re-routing power from auxiliary nacels, cutting life-support from the lower decks, and turning off the holo-deck, they might just be able to reverse polarity by de-coupling the anti-matter containment field to properly reconfigure a photon torpedo to the borg frequency. Thus, Tea, earl grey, WILL... be hot.

Re:

[Fulcrum of Evil]

I think this is what the deflector dish is supposed to do.

Re:

[theguyfromsaturn]

Well, they could have them down while in parking orbit around earth... So you would still get to say "Shields UP" when starting yoru journey.

Down-to-earth uses

[tom_75]

Astronauts, you say ? I can definitely see many applications right below the magnetosphere. Tired of the wife, kids, mortgage, urban stress and immune to http://www.davesdaily.com/pictures/302-fukitol.htm [davesdaily.com] ? Energize !

Movies lead again!

[RedElf]

Once again, the movies/tv shows have lead the way to developing new technology!

cough

[fyngyrz]

Once again, the movies/tv shows have lead the way to developing new technology!

No. Once again, science fiction writers far predating TV shows and movies such as EE "Doc" Smith and his many predecessors, peers and those that followed led the way, and TV lamely followed. But that's OK. You go back to watching TV. Books might make your head hurt. Full of words, they are. Very annoying. And that whole "theater of the mind" thing... I mean, what if you blow a projector bulb in your cerebrum?

Re:

[drsquare]

They didn't lead the way. Unless the Star Trek scripts contain actual blueprints for these. Anyone can 'invent' something on TV. Maybe I should write a TV show involving a viable fusion reactor, then take credit for it when it's actually invented. Of course my 'reactor' is just a microwave painted silver with a radiation sign on the frong, but I'm a pioneer!

Re:

[Gilmoure]

Dude, this guy strapped a JATO to an Impala and made it sub-orbital. There's a page on MySpace about this.

Misleading Title

[PixieDust]

These aren't Star Trek shields. They ONLY protect against a few types of radiation. Basically do the same thing as the Earth's Magnetosphere. Too bad. It'd be really cool to run around in something with shields up, see an occasional flare up when something hits it.

Course, it wouldn't be long before Jack-Ass had shields around someone's nether regions, and shot it with a gun.

Re:Misleading Title

[Cpt_Kirks]

Yeah, these would be more in line with the field produced by the deflector dish up front. It is supposed to push particles out of the way at high relativistic speeds.

Re:

[zippthorne]

Indeed, if by "a few types of radiation" you mean, "no types of radiation at all." since a spacecraft megnetosphere only affects charged particles and plasmas. And doesn't technically deflect anything away, but instead traps stuff. causing the particles to precipitate at specific locations (which can be more heavily shielded) at the poles.

Not so misleading as you might think (with video!)

[Roger W Moore]

Indeed, if by "a few types of radiation" you mean, "no types of radiation at all."

Not correct: it will not work for neutral radiation (neutron and gamma) but will deflect charged particle radiation just fine.

And doesn't technically deflect anything away, but instead traps stuff. causing the particles to precipitate at specific locations (which can be more heavily shielded) at the poles.

It is a real shame that nobody thought to tell us physicists about this because we have been using magnetic fields

Re:

[Rei]

Yeah, active shielding (what they're talking about here) is all nice and good (if you can actually get it to work light enough and with low enough power) against solar radiation, but it's pretty useless against GCR (galactic cosmic radiation). There's a lot less GCR than solar radiation, but still enough that you're going to want to be shielded from it on a Mars mission. Which means that you still need passive shielding. Using passive shielding raises a whole host of design problems when weight is a cons

Re:

[aztektum]

Pf you obviously don't know what you're talking about. The point in Jackass is wacking someone in the junk WITHOUT protective gear. They would have no interest in this technology.

Fine, but dont call them 'Star Trek' shields

[LibertineR]

Any fool knows that the shields used on Star Trek were about heat absorbtion from Phaser fire and Photon torpedoes, also Mass deflection (ala the Tractor Beam) against asteroids and your odd ship explosion. Of Course, the shields were modified over the years to deal with Temporal Incursions and the Genesis effect, but it would be wrong these shields as simular to Star Trek.

I hope we have cleared that up, dammit.

Re:

[Tobenisstinky]

Hear, hear. At most call them "energy sheilds"

Deflector dish, dammit

[ruiner13]

It is actually more akin to the deflector dish. It is what was responsible for deflecting small particles and the like from the path of the ship. At warp 10, even a single molecule would have the force to destroy the ship.

So does that mean....

[ericdano]

So does that mean when went sent people to space before, they got exposed to all kinds of particals and stuff? Are they still ok? If so, then do we really need this?

Or....did we fake the moon stuff?

"Denny CRANE"

Re:So does that mean....

[bcrowell]

So does that mean when went sent people to space before, they got exposed to all kinds of particals and stuff? Are they still ok? If so, then do we really need this? Or....did we fake the moon stuff?
Galactic cosmic rays [wikipedia.org] are the biggest, most difficult problem. For a variety of reasons, explained in the WP link, they're not a big problem for low-earth orbit space stations like the ISS. The Apollo astronauts did get exposed to a lot of radiation, but they were only out for about a week, whereas an elliptical transfer orbit to Mars takes 1.4 years round trip in interplanetary space. For anyone who's actually had to wear a radiation badge to work, the integrated dosages they've estimated for a Mars issue just sound nuts, like somebody moved a decimal place over three places by mistake. It's a huge amount of radiation, roughly on the right order of magnitude to kill a human being. The Apollo astronauts got dosages at the level where there's speculation they may be getting cataracts at a significantly higher rate than normal. Scale that up by a ratio of 1.4 years to 1 week, and you get effects that are just not on the order of magnitude that you could laugh off heroically.

Re:

[Kjella]

Scale that up by a ratio of 1.4 years to 1 week, and you get effects that are just not on the order of magnitude that you could laugh off heroically.

And that's just one of many knowns and quite a few unknowns. Your whole body will be quite fucked up by all the zero/low-G. Anything goes wrong, you might end up as everything from a tin can in space to a smear on Mars' surface to the first permanent resident on Mars. Even on the most deserted arctic outpost you don't get crammed up in so little space for a so

Re:

[dthx1138]

Exactly. Coronal mass ejections are not the main cause of concern on a long-term mission for astronauts. Now, a lot of cosmic radiation is ionizing radiation such as electrons and protons, which can be diverted electromagnetically, unlike gamma rays. However, as noted by some others, the power output required to run your magnetic shield 24/7 would almost certainly be ridiculous.

Remember that our only options for power generation right now are solar arrays and RTG's, and you're not going to get much mor

Re:

[FooAtWFU]

Mars rovers aren't, but the Voyager probes and some others used radioisotope thermoelectric generators - not fission or fusion, mind you, but basically noting that "decaying nuclear stuff is hot, so hook it up to a thermocouple". They have a nasty habit of slowly running out of power over the course of their operational life, usually a few decades. They can't be refueled properly, like you could with fission reactors - the fuel decays (in fact, the decay is what makes it fuel to begin with). Fission reactor [wikipedia.org]

dupe from 2004; lots of practical problems

[bcrowell]

This was reported on slashdot three years ago [slashdot.org]. The space.com article linked to from the 2004 slashdot summary is actually much more detailed in terms of the science. The big engineering problems with this approach still have not been solved. (1) If you're not using superconducting magnet coils, a large, static magnetic field requires a huge power supply to keep it going. That's not practical for foreseeable, near-future technologies for going to Mars, which will need to use very small payloads. (2) Superconducting magnets are unreliable, finicky beasts, at least from my experience here on earth. You need big, heavy cryostats full of liquified gases. It's not necessarily a good idea to have a vital piece of safety equipment for your spaceship depend on an inherently high-maintenance, low-reliability technology. (3) Large electric fields are hard to maintain because you get arcing and discharges. I used to work at an electrostatic accelerator that used megavolt potentials, and it would start sparking at the most inopportune times, for reasons like, e.g., someone leaving behind a speck of lint inside the accelerator. When a spark would happen, you could hear it all through the building, and the energy released was equivalent to dropping a VW bug off the roof of a building. Again, low-reliability, high maintenance. (4) Although it's possible to use tricks to get rid of some of the particles, or channel particles to a place where they're not as harmful, you still have to deal with the fact that you have particles with both signs of charge, which feel forces in opposite directions from the same field. What repels one attracts the other. Also, if the particles get channeled to a certain place, and impact on something solid, then you get extremely intense secondary radiation at that spot.

Dont you have cable?

[LibertineR]

You need big, heavy cryostats full of liquified gases.

No, no, no, dude.

You only need bio-gel packs and iso-linear chips. But, only the green ones.

If you use the red ones and get them mixed up, you'll need Data to save your ass.

Re:

[petrus4]

I'm feeling an attack of autistic geek pedantry, here. Must...resist...

Ok, so I can't. ;)

You only need bio-gel packs and iso-linear chips. But, only the green ones.

Neither of these two things would have anything to do with a forcefield, except maybe being responsible for turning it on and off. ;) These two things were responsible for powering computer systems...with the isolinear chips being the more primitive of the two, and the bio-gel packs replacing them.

Re:

[LibertineR]

I knew someone couldnt resist! You see, this is my power.

Bees!!!

[owlnation]

Can they be made really small?

Won't anyone think of the bees?

there are practical power limitations

[plasmacutter]

there is a lab in the southwest (nevada i think) where they generate fields as strong as the earth's magnetic field (in otherwords, what theyre looking for here).

the power consumption of the machine used is about the same as dayton ohio.

good luck mounting that generator on your back.

additionally, equating them to star trek shields is a bit of a stretch. it will block the same type of radiation the magnetosphere blocks, in other words, good luck deflecting lasers or solid matter. I get the feeling in order to do that you would have to make a shield with orders of magnitude more magnetic power, then for objects with mass engineer gravitic shielding a-la babylon 5.

in other words, star trek style shields are, very optimistically, at least 250 years away, and more realistically 700 to 1000 years away, assuming we last that long as a species.

Re:there are practical power limitations

[pclminion]

there is a lab in the southwest (nevada i think) where they generate fields as strong as the earth's magnetic field (in otherwords, what theyre looking for here).

The Earth's magnetic field is wimpy. A refrigerator magnet produces a stronger field. The thing about Earth's field is that it is HUGE, spatially. So particles have a LOT of field to contend with on their way through the magnetosphere. Even though the field itself is incredibly weak.

Re:

[foniksonik]

So what you're saying is that our spaceships don't need a strong magnetic field... they need a really big magnetic field. Good info. So what we need is something that generates a large but relatively weak field and we're in business.

Fluid Dynamos (which is what the earth uses for it's field) seem like a good candidate. [aps.org]

Re:

[foniksonik]

On the topic of MHDs [wikipedia.org], it appears that they can also produce energy.....

Would be interesting to see a combination effort to create a Magnetohydrodynamics Generator to generate both electricity and a magnetic field. Power the ship and protect it from basic radiation and small particles at the same time.

oh noes, your hard-drives got pwnz0red

[vivin]

Captain Kirk: Raise Shields!
Mr. Spock: Captain, may I remind you that these new shields developed by British scientists rely on Magnetic fields and as a result...
Captain Kirk: Not now Spock!
Chekov: Shields up, Captain!

Lights flicker, ship powers down. Emergency lights light up**

Captain Kirk: Spock! What happened?
Mr. Spock: It appears that the magnetic shields have erased our hard-drives. Our ship is powerless.
Captain Kirk: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I have no idea if magnetic shields would really erase hard-drives, but oh well! ;)

Ya right...

[fahrbot-bot]

From the TFA:
...need to generate a magnetic field and then fill it with ionised gas called plasma... "You don't need much of a magnetic field to hold off the solar wind. You could produce the shield 20-30 kilometres away from the spacecraft,"...

Hmm, what would be the energy requirements to create a "magnet bottle" to a distance of 20-30 kilometers? They got the idea for the shield from fusion reactor tech, but I'm guessing one would need a Warp Core to power this thing... Oh ya, and not have every pie

Re:

[adrianbaugh]

Uhh... why not just have a little magnetic bottle on a 30km long tether? Much cheaper and easier. Kind of like an aerospike, but for charged particles not air.

Re:

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

Hmm, what would be the energy requirements to create a "magnet bottle" to a distance of 20-30 kilometers?

Well, since the energy density of a magnetic field is (B^2)/(2*u0) (as given here [wolfram.com]), filling a sphere of radius 30km with 1 gauss (roughly the strength of the earth's field) would require 450 gigajoules [google.com]. Of course, that's a really rough guess, and probably low, since the field would be a stronger as you get nearer the ship.

If you happen to have a time machine (which might look suspiciously like a DeLo

How Long Will It Take?

[filesiteguy]

I can see it now at the Didcot Science Centre (English spelling):

Manager: How long until we can get the shields operating?

Engineer: Eight Years

Manager: Eight Years?

Engineer: Yes, but you don't have eight years, so I'll do it in two.

Manager: Do you always multiply your design estimates by a factor of four?

Engineer: I have a reputation to maintain, sir.

Fry says

[Kohath]

Fry says:

"Shields at maximum Yarnell [wikipedia.org]!"

sounds fine, except

[circletimessquare]

we really need to make further advances in the technology of modulating energy through dilithium crystals first

Ohmygodponies style reporting

[syousef]

My how slashdot has fallen. If these are "star trek shields" I'm an Aardvaark. How the fuck did this one get past the editors? Were they asleep at the time?

FFS

[deblau]

"Star Trek Shields Now a Possibility?"

No, some scientists have said they intend to build one. I intend to do a lot of things, it doesn't mean they get done.

Gonna protect me from what...?

[Nom du Keyboard]

I'm waiting to see the magnetic shield that protects me from X-Rays, Gamma Rays, and other even higher frequency electromagnetic radiation.

Bar magnet

[flyingfsck]

Chances are that all they need is a Dollar Store, toy bar magnet...

Re:

[WinterSolstice]

Screw lightsabers, I want replicators :D

Re:Cool!

[RsG]

Funny, this being slashdot, I'd have thought your first choice would be either a holodeck or seven of nine. :-P
(Though admittedly in either case the boobs in question aren't real, but hey.)

Re:

[__aaclcg7560]

Holodeck -> See "World of Warcraft"
Seven of Nine -> Search Google for "Tribble Porn"

Re:

[CommunistHamster]

Seven of Nine -> Search Google for "Tribble Porn"

MY EYES! The goggles, they do nothing!

Re:Cool!

[Mr. Bad Example]

>> Seven of Nine -> Search Google for "Tribble Porn"
>
> MY EYES! The goggles, they do nothing!

MY EYES! The Google, it does everything!

Re:

[James_Duncan8181]

Actual pictures are quite difficult to find, but... here [photobucket.com] you are.

I could see it selling to the furry market...

Re:

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

Or the amiable and sympathetic androids of Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

Duh

[Rob the Bold]

Funny, this being slashdot, I'd have thought your first choice would be either a holodeck or seven of nine. :-P

I'd have a holodeck with a seven of nine program. For when I got tired of T'Pol. Jeez.

Re:

[IthnkImParanoid]

We'll need replicators before we have holodecks, because who would want to waste their time farming or disposing of waste? Round the clock orgy fantasies won't create food (although they are the best possible way to starve to death).

Re:

[kinglink]

Having a little experience with this question the answer that always seems to come up is between "no boobs and fake boobs, I'll choose fake boobs."

Oddly enough that's true in the porn industry as well.

Re:

[Gilmoure]

A hard light hologram? Who'd go for that?

Re:

[fyngyrz]

Real is spectacular. These silicone-stuffed ladies are operating under entirely false pretenses. if silicone is what you like, buy a RealDoll. Guaranteed less expensive than the real thing over time, and those breasts are just what you want.

Re:

[Mister Whirly]

Or just buy the damn implants for yourself. If fake boobs are better than none, wouldn't having a nice big set of your own be better than not?

Re:

[StarvingSE]

Screw lightsabers, I want some power converters from toshi station.

Re:

[iamacat]

I would prefer to screw something in holodeck, but definitely not a lightsaber!

Re:

[vls]

yes, but will they be able to randomly shift the frequency of the field to keep the borg at bay?

Re:

[Tim C]

If I were a pedant, I'd probably point out that generally speaking an energy weapon is going to be firing a coherent beam of radiation.

But no, these shields are hardly in the same league as your average sci-fi story shields.

Re:

[Itninja]

And Jem'Hadar! Don't don't stop Jem'Hadar!

Re:

[compro01]

the article says "energetic particles", which i'm pretty sure qualify as "solid objects". to deflect larger objects, i would think you could just make it orders of magnitude stronger.

Re:

[homer_ca]

Yeah. Since photons have no charge, a *magnetic* shield doesn't nothing against radiation. This article is about a magnetic shield to deflect charged particles like cosmic rays and solar wind.

Re:Not quite. . .

[egomaniac]

Yeah. Since photons have no charge, a *magnetic* shield doesn't nothing against radiation. This article is about a magnetic shield to deflect charged particles like cosmic rays and solar wind.

It won't stop electromagnetic radiation, but that's not the only kind of radiation. Alpha and beta particles both count as radiation, and they can both be deflected magnetically.

Re:

[Tony Hoyle]

Both of those would be stopped by the hull anyway.

It's gamma radiation you want to watch for... and unless I'm reading it wrong this won't stop that.

Re:

[shmlco]

And now, my young Padawan learner, what happens to the hull after it's stopped enough of them???

Re:

[Scorchmon]

According to the article, the purpose of the magnetic field is to hold a layer of plasma in place around the vessel. Plasma is made up of charged particles, and charged particles interact with gamma radiation through compton scattering and the photo-electric effect. This "shield" will reduce incoming gamma radiation via those phenomena.

Shield frequency modulation

[us7892]

Weren't the Borg capable of predicting the next frequency hop of the shields, thus modulating their own weapons and transporters to correspond with the shield frequency, thus making the shields useless.

Or some such nonsense.

Re:

[ScrewMaster]

I don't think they predicted it so much as adapted very quickly to it. Of course, that doesn't sound like a particularly difficult thing to do so I'm surprised that the Klingons, Romulans and the rest hadn't figured that out millennia ago, making frequency-hopping shields the standard long before Starfleet was invented.

Anyway, unless Star Trek shields were modulated at a frequency in the tiny fractions of a Hz. they weren't magnetic. Generating enough electromagnetism to deflect high-energy particles is

Re:

[pclminion]

While we're waxing ridiculous on Star Trek, why didn't their uber-powerful computer have the capacity to predict where the enemy weapon/projectile was about to strike the ship, then focus ALL of the shield energy in that ONE location? It would increase the effectiveness of the shields by hundreds of times.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe the shields were able to focus their energy in original series episode #303, "The Paradise Syndrome". I recall Spock pulling out a small circuit-board from under the console and making a few small adjustments to focus the shield energy at the proper vector to thwart the attacking Klingon warbird.

Re:Shield frequency modulation

[yahooadam]

i don't know what is more worrying, your knowledge of star trek

or the fact you know the exact episode this happened

Re:

[Viper Daimao]

Because I think I got it caught in an recursive loop when I asked for directions to the bathroom.

...sorry

Re:

[RsG]

I intend to build a perpetual motion machine. I've been trying for years, and ironically I can't seem to stop.

I'm also hoping to get my anti-aging device working, but it can wait. I don't think I've got the time machine working, or if I will I'll have forgotten to tell me that I did...

Prepetual motion

[iamacat]

I intend to build a perpetual motion machine

Just spin up a pendulum in vacuum. It just keeps going and going and going... wicked! Now you can move on to more challenging pursuits like a closed system energy generator.

Re:

[CrazyTalk]

Peskly power problems? I'd be more worried about the pesky laws of physics problem!

Re:

[RsG]

Fast moving space dust and micro meteors (really the same thing actually) can be stopped by far more mundane means. You don't even really need to stop them per se, you just have to build your spacecraft to survive them. Remember that inflatable stations have been seriously considered - the reason is that a few pinhole leaks aren't going to be the end of the world if you have a contingency in place for them (duct tape perhaps? :-)

Radiation, on the other hand, generally isn't so easy to block. You can most

Wake me up when we have replicators

[us7892]

Steak dinner. Pfftssshshzzzz.
A Guinness. Pfftssshshzzzz.

Can replicators only make food? Still, not bad...

Re:

[plasmacutter]

I don't like being sprayed in the face by acid, or having a hand in my forehead thank you very much.

Re:

[ScrewMaster]

Mebbe so ... but I'd like to see how a Star Destroyer (or better yet, a Death Star) would fare against a Borg Cube.

I have the feeling that Darth Vader would be getting a few more cybernetic implants.

Re:

[hurfy]

hmm, only one comment on the thought i had :(

Presumably there would be a shield to protect the ship also. Big bubble, little bubble. How to get plasma between them is up to the reader ;)

I am lost trying to imagine it. Can you make a nice round magnetic field to surround a ship. I thought magnetic fields like a kinda bone-shape seemingly leaving the middle fairly exposed.

How one makes a huge magnetic charged field and keep the ship/components from being affected is beyond me too ;)

Oh well, i plan to build a

Re:

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

I'm a fan of Nikola Tesla; he was pretty much my childhood hero. I think he was a really sharp guy that developed a lot of useful technology. However, I think some of the things he thought were possible probably aren't - especially stuff he was talking about later in his life. Everybody goes over the hill at some point, and even if you're still really bright at the end of your life, you still don't know everything and are bound to make some speculations that are totally unfeasible.

I think it's unfortun

Re:

[alphamugwump]

Yes, Tesla was crazy. Actually, he experienced hallucinations all his life, although he managed to use them as a sort of design tool for visualizing 3D machines.

On the other hand, the guy fucking invented electrical engineering. He invented the AC motor and the radio, among other things. He also invented robotics, but it was so ahead of its time that nobody gave a shit.

Oh, sure, he probably didn't have a superweapon. But he really did think of the kinds of things nobody else would have thought of. If he ha