Van Allen surprise: fewer nasty particles than NASA expected After a three-year search, NASA's Van Allen Probes have worked out there's far fewer high-energy electrons in the Van Allen Belts than previously thought. That's good news, because electrons moving at relativistic speeds are a danger to navigation, as NASA explains in a paper that's just landed in the Journal of Geophysical …
Oops, didn't somebody forget to remind NASA that they've already allegedly sent a dozen humans to the moon and back without apparent ill health due to radiation?
Think they're more concerned about their kit getting damaged immediately than people getting cancer years later. Can't work out how there are less high energy particles than they thought but more in a solar storm can lead to less protection all of the time. Surely it's now obvious the protection is needed always 'just in case'.
No - those astronauts were exposed to about as much radiation as an abdominal/pelvic CAT scan...
However the computers they had were slightly less radiation susceptible than the current generation...
Amy did a video only this week:
YouTube Link (Video ID: bLtgS2_qxJk)
Oops, didn't somebody forget to remind NASA that they've already allegedly sent a dozen humans to the moon and back without apparent ill health due to radiation?
The Apollo missions mostly side-stepped the Van Allen belts by selecting a launch window where the inclinations of the moon and the belts were at their largest relative point. They never sent manned vessels through the bowels of the belts.
Most people aren't aware of some of the latest technology, notably NanoRAM. NanoRAM is an almost ideal memory/logic technology, except for one teeny tiny detail. It's actually been used in several military satellites, but it's still expensive and difficult to make.
As I understand it, a NanoRAM 'switch' is a bent bit of carbon nanotube, which is connected to one side of a circuit, plus a 'landing zone' which is connected to the other side. The nanotube can be bent (magnetically? I forget) to either bend over and connect to the landing zone, or to straighten and disconnect. In either state it is completely static, needs nothing to maintain the state. The only time it is sensitive to radiation is in the nanosecond during which the switching is in progress. Its switching time is much faster than silicon, the density is much higher, and the switching power is much less, and the power required to maintain state is zero.
From what I've heard and read, the problem of making consistent, repeatable nanotubes has been the real issue, which has prevented this technology from becoming a common replacement for both dynamic and static RAM in computers. But its value in satellites may be unsurpassed.
I for one would like to know if making the nanotubes might be easier in microgravity. If so, then this might be a technology that both enables and depends on space development. Caveat: I only know what I've read in Wikipedia and online articles, and discussions with folks who know a little more than I do.
SX are planning to launch a 2 layer internet constellation of 12 000 sats in total. The lower density (4425) will be in the inner VA belt. The Very LEO constellation will number 7518
Nominal mass is 384Kg so if this can cut shielding by a couple of Kg on the core electronics (it will have on board inter satellite links as well as significant processing power for the Gb data channels and phased array processing) that will save a massive amount of mass to launch to orbit.
BTW of the 3 sub GEO com constellations (Iridium, Orbcomm and Geostar) all went into Chp 11 bankruptcy. Replacing a full constellation is a multi $Bn investement that will have to be made every 5-7 years.
The stated goal is to generate enough profit to fund SX's Mars programme.
Hi, just a thought but I wonder if this information should be sent to the eejits who insist that the Moon Landings were faked.
I also noticed that an idea suggested by the film "Fantastic Four" ie movable shields which only rotate and reversibly lock in place when needed. Sort of like a camera iris but 3-D and precision engineered.
No doubt some sort of MagLev setup would work here and add a measure of safety with the option for manual activation if the automated systems break down via a hand crank or 10.
Did some work on HTSC shielding a while back but its not really feasible except for massive spacecraft and only for small areas such as computer centres and "Safe Rooms".
It can actually make things worse for the rest of the spacecraft as the particles have to go somewhere, on the other hand they could be captured and used to supercharge the "Conundrum Drive".
you have a super conducting hull which is streamlined unlike bricks that are skylon, NASA shuttle, x37b, the magnetic field just acts the same as earths magnetosphere and pushes solar radiation around your craft seamlessly
real force fields have been working for 5 years to stop RPG's on tanks
the best design for a new shuttle would be something like http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraft/Lockheed-F19/IMAGES/Lockheed-F-19-Stealth-Fighter-Title.jpg
good for force fields, good for reflecting small debris. rear tail can fold down in space
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