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<font color="orange"><b>Superconducting Magnetic Bubble May Protect Astronauts From Radiation</b><br /><br />Using fields of force to accomplish goals in space is a favorite device of science fiction authors. In Larry Niven's award-winning 1970 novel Ringworld, protection against the harsh environmental hazards of space is provided by a hybrid system consisting of a General Products hull and the Slaver stasis field. The General Products hull is an example of a "passive" or material shielding; the hull is transparent to visible light and impervious to electromagnetic energy and matter in any form. The Slaver stasis field creates an area in which time does not pass; since time stands still, no damage can be done to the material occupying the space protected by the field.<br /><br />Former astronaut Jeffery Hoffman is proposing a different sort of hybrid system to protect future astronauts; on long voyages through the solar system they will be exposed to lethal doses of radiation from cosmic rays. He has recieved funding from NASA through NIAC (NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts) to research the idea of a superconducting magnetic radiation shielding system to supplement (or replace) traditional passive shielding. </font><br /><br />SDC article... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>