Spacecraft Radiation Shielding

[agorski]

Not quite here, but getting promising:

Shields up: New ideas might make active shielding viable

Active shielding was first proposed in the '60s. We’re finally close to making it work.

arstechnica.com

 

[Dragoner]

I have thought about adding shielding to spacecraft for reasons such as this.

 

[Condottiere]

Nuclear damper.

 

[kilemall]

Of course our hulls do weigh several hundred tons. In addition I assume a proportion of the power plant fuel is in wraparound tanks doubling as shielding.

And our fusion power plants would have no trouble powering several of the shielding schemes.

 

[Dragoner]

It is true we have screens already, in kosmic I folded the meson and nuclear damper into each other.

 

[Enoki]

A dense, closed cell, foam made largely of Boron. Boron is a massive absorber of neutrons while the foam would be applied in a layer say half-a-meter thick or thicker that gives it the depth to absorb and stop gamma radiation. This would reduce or eliminate the need for a continuous magnetic field or other energy draining system.

 

[mike wightman]

Neutrons are not a major component of space radiation, the main types are protons, electrons, positrons and then em waves

Here in the real world mass is the most important variable - how much is your half metre thick boron shelter going to mass compared with the magnet?

Something else you can do with a powerful magnetic field it to contain a plasma, you could put a plasma window arounfd your whole ship.

 

[Enoki]

Neutrons are not a major component of space radiation, the main types are protons, electrons, positrons and then em waves

Here in the real world mass is the most important variable - how much is your half metre thick boron shelter going to mass compared with the magnet?

Something else you can do with a powerful magnetic field it to contain a plasma, you could put a plasma window arounfd your whole ship.

Neutrons are the hardest to shield against though. They are the 'wrecking balls' of radiation. Magnets are far heavier than a borated foam that would be very light weight. I'm also not pushing one over the other but rather saying they'd work in combination. The foam acts as shielding and as insulation for the ship while the magnetic field could be reduced in strength to make the equipment generating it much lighter and compact. One reduces the radiation that hits the ship while the other absorbs any that leaks through the magnetic field.

The shielding foam also acts passively, so if the magnetic field goes down, the ship still has some degree of protection.

 

[mike wightman]

Neutrons are not very common in space.

Cosmic ray - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org