You are not logged in.
*From a space.com article:
"Project researchers said computer simulations have successfully shown that an electrostatic shield could protect a spacecraft. The method, however, would not be useful on Mars, where the electrostatic field would ultimately --->start a current through the atmosphere and cause electrical arcs much like those that light up the gas in fluorescent lights on Earth."<---
*The method wouldn't be useful for shielding from radiation on Mars. [::edit:: We already have a few threads devoted to the subject of radiation shielding on Mars, etc.; let's please *not* discuss that particular, but rather OTHER applications of this techology are what I'm questioning...thanks!] But couldn't there be other practical uses for this technology? Perhaps use as artificial lighting source during night-time construction? Say a new colony is going up, and they want humans and robots working around-the-clock on it. Instead of dragging pole lights out, there, would this technology help?
Here's more of an explanation (as applied to ships):
""Youngquist's team envisions a spacecraft equipped with what's called a multipole electrostatic radiation shield, a radiation guard made up of three, electrically charged spheres set in a line along the axis of the ship. The center sphere, set close or even attached to the crew module, would be positively charged, while two outrigger spheres on either side would carry a negative charge. Together, the combination should be enough to repel both high-energy protons and electrons that would otherwise penetrate a spacecraft."
I'm probably waaaaaaaay off with this one, but just wondering like usual. :-\
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
Offline
Well it'd give you sporadic light at best. Hard to do construction work with only bursts of light every 4.5 seconds. In any case there's an easier way to catch/divert lightning, by ionizing air pathways with high energy beams.
Is there even any lightning on mars? Thunderheads on earth get charged from water molecules, but the martian atmosphere is pretty dry from what i understand..
Offline