[ RadSafe ] space propulsion and shielding

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

I am a HUGE fan of science fiction (in fact, I have written some), and comet/asteroid mining is a staple of the genre, but short of some propulsion system vastly better than what we have available now I see little hope for industrial application.  The problem is that everything is moving really fast compared to everything else, and it is all a long ways away.  The recent probe to a comet took about 10 years to get there, and that was for a comet with a favorable orbit.  

I think that it is much more likely we will develop cheaper ways to get things out of the gravity well, and that will make visiting other parts of the Solar System much easier.  My bets are on a space elevator, though there are non-trivial technical issues, not the least of which is that it will take days to go through the Van Allen Belt, rather than minutes, and radiation exposure could be significant.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Nathan Sutherland
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2015 9:52 AM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] space propulsion and shielding

Given our recent ability to latch onto comets, I believe it wont be long before we are able to do some mining/processing of their materials to construct hydrogenous shielding in situ, (enabling spacecraft launches to remain as lightweight as possible)

Fingers crossed!

On Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 3:19 PM,  <JPreisig at aol.com> wrote:
> Radsafe,
>
>      Hey All.  If one has an Electromagnetic  (spaceship) propulsion 
> system which works by mercury or mercury ions (or another  material) 
> spinning around in a sphere or torous (very quickly), one generates a  
> good-sized magnetic field which can interact with the Earth's magnetic 
> field and  other Solar system magnetic fields.  Such a magnetic field 
> will shield  such a spacecraft from charged particles, much like the Earth's magnetic  field works.
> Still have to shield against neutrons etc.  EM  propulsion systems 
> (see youtube)
> are:  glocke, haunebu, thule tachyonator,  magnetic field disruptor, 
> tr3b etc.
>
>     The bob lazar fellow (see his youtubes) discusses  gravitational 
> propulsion using element-115 by proton-induced fission or some  
> matter/antimatter reaction.  He says he worked on such systems at 
> Area51  (USA).  He describes the propulsion system and why radiation 
> shielding is  largely not needed in such systems.
>
>     If a UFO/spaceship can get somewhere quickly (using  wormholes 
> etc.), then one may not have to have much radiation shielding at  all.
>
>     Regards,    Joe Preisig
>
>
>
>
>
>
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