Radiation Shields for Space Workers
Cosmic radiation—charged particles that emanate throughout deep space—is a deadly obstacle to future human expeditions to Mars, the asteroids, or other locations beyond Earth. Now, the European Space Agency is partnering with a German particle-accelerator laboratory to develop “radiation shields” that might protect spacecrafts’ crews from exposure.
Researchers at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, are running various materials through simulated collisions with space-based particles to see which materials withstand impact. They report that shields made of water, polyethylene, and hydrogen-rich materials patented by the British company Cella Energy all show promise.
Source: European Space Agency, www.esa.int.
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THE FUTURIST Magazine Releases Its Top 10 Forecasts for 2013 and Beyond (With Video)
Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine to go into our annual Outlook report. The forecasts are meant as conversation starters, not absolute predictions about the future. We hope that this report--covering developments in business and economics, demography, energy, the environment, health and medicine, resources, society and values, and technology--inspires you to tackle the challenges, and seize the opportunities, of the coming decade. Here are our top ten.
Why the Future Will Almost Certainly Be Better than the Present
Five hundred years ago there was no telephone. No telegraph, for that matter. There was only a postal system that took weeks to deliver a letter. Communication was only possible in any fluent manner between people living in the same neighborhood. And neighborhoods were smaller, too. There were no cars allowing us to travel great distances in the blink of an eye. So the world was a bunch of disjointed groups of individuals who evolved pretty much oblivious to what happened around them.
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BiFi, Biology, Engineering and Artifical Life
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Comments
The Asteroid Belt
As I described in VISION 3000: The Transformation of Humanity in the New Millenium, there are several reasons why the Asteroid Belt, especially Ceres and other large asteroids, will be the most important resource for developing the Solar System: 1. Building materials that are outside major gravity wells; 2. Mid-way between inner system and outer system; 3. Possibility of bases all around the circumference of the system to provide easy connecting points for systemic traffic. We should soon see robotic exploration vehicles sent to investigate the availability of resources and their location within the Belt. I predict a major "Belt Civilization" within the next couple hundred years. High probability that this will become the central hub-region for all of Solar civilization. Radiation sheilding and artificial gravity generation are key enabling technologies.
Astronauts vs radiation
Please read this book: "Radiation and Reason, The impact of Science on a culture of fear" by Wade Allison.
http://www.radiationandreason.com/
Professor Allison says we can take up to 10 rems per month, a little more than 1000 times the present "legal" limit. The old limit was 5 rems/lifetime. A single dose of 800 rems could kill you, but if you have time to recover between doses of 10 rems, no problem. It is like donating blood: You see "4 gallon donor" stickers on cars. You know they didn't give 4 gallons all at once. There is a threshold just over 10 rems. You are getting .35 rems/year NATURAL background radiation right where you are right now.
Divide 5 rems by your present Natural Background Radiation. For Americans, Natural Background Radiation is at least .35 rems/year. Our Natural Background Radiation uses up our 5 rems/lifetime when we are 14 years old.
Natural Background Radiation is radiation that was always there, 1000 years ago, a million years ago, etc. Natural Background Radiation comes from the rocks in the ground and from exploding stars thousands of light years away. All rocks contain uranium. Radon gas is a decay product of uranium.
The astronauts get only 1.5 rems/month. That is less than the safe limit of 10 rems per month. There is no problem.