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I found these very interesting works by Mark Benton and Ruth Bamfod
http://scholar.google.it/scholar?q=mini … CB4QgQMwAA
about a NEO asteroid mission with a spaceship, using an extesible truss module for artificial gravity and a very innovative mini-magnetosphere cosmic ray shield, generated via superconductive coils.
The spaceship spin on the transfer orbit plane: solar arrays and communications antennas are mounted on de-spun platforms
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Actually, that's pretty close to the same ideas I've been proposing since the 2011 Mars Society meeting. It's an orbit-to-orbit transport with adequate life support, appropriate landers if Mars, all to be launched and docked together in LEO. It spins for artificial gravity.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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Actually, that's pretty close to the same ideas I've been proposing since the 2011 Mars Society meeting. It's an orbit-to-orbit transport with adequate life support, appropriate landers if Mars, all to be launched and docked together in LEO. It spins for artificial gravity.
GW
I prefer your modular spaceship because it'is reusable, but the very interesting thing in these works is the m2p2 cosmic ray shielding system: if it works, you can upgrade your Johnosn Express inserting a m2p2 module in the middle.
It's also a very good thing, that some people have realized that artificial gravity is not an optional: years long deep space reference missions without artificial gravity are very disturbing.
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I hope the EM shield idea works, too. But if not, 20 cm of water wrapped around the flight control station makes a very good shelter for solar flare radiation. You have to have water and wastewater tanks for men anyway. So use them. And your food, which will in part have to be fresh-frozen (chunks of ice). Freeze-dried astronaut "food" doesn't last over about a year, maybe a year and a half.
With artificial gravity, waste disposal and treatment are far easier, and you can do conventional cooking with conventional frozen, fresh, and canned food. Plus your health stays good far longer. There is no need for more than a few days here-and-there doing zero-gee stuff, using zero-gee toilets, and eating astronaut "food".
I don't really see a problem with galactic cosmic radiation until we start sending colonists. Exploration crews just don't fly twice. One trip will hit career exposure limits in about 3-4 years in peak cosmic ray exposure years. You might get to fly twice if both trips were during minimum exposure years.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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I hope the EM shield idea works, too. But if not, 20 cm of water wrapped around the flight control station makes a very good shelter for solar flare radiation. You have to have water and wastewater tanks for men anyway. So use them. And your food, which will in part have to be fresh-frozen (chunks of ice).
GW
Even if m2p2 works, I think it's better to have 20 cm of water around flight control station. EM shield may be subject to failure, passive water shield not: using both will result very safe. 20 cm of Water inside a double layer may be also a protection against microdebris impacts.
Last edited by Quaoar (2014-11-11 06:50:31)
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