NASA Studying Energy Shields for Spacecraft

Shafe writes "SPACE.COM posted an article concerning enhanced shielding technologies research for futuristic spacecraft en route to Mars. One particularly interesting goal is essentially an energy shield known as a 'multipole electrostatic shield' that would deflect both radiation and micro-meteoroids. We're one step closer to Star Trek: shields up!"

Comments

Now that they have shields,

[weeboo0104]

The only thing astronauts need is a female [Borg, Vulcan, starship captain, councilor] to make that trip to Mars!

No Trees?

[Red Rocket]

No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

That is extremely and profoundly incorrect. Trees were killed. In fact, streams, valleys, and even entire mountains and watersheds were destroyed so that you could send this message. See for yourself.
Here and Here.

Re:No Trees?

[Red Rocket]

I'm impressed, you managed to use this guy's inoffensive and amusing signature to segue into an unrelated environmentalist tirade.

Tirade??? Wow. If you think that was a tirade then you've led an extremely sheltered life. I simply and politely pointed out the fallacy that the poster seemed to believe. The fallacy is that electricity is an environmentally benign energy source. The reality is far, far to the opposite extreme, so I believe it deserved a correction.

Congratulations, you're a bleeding heart hippie.

Well, if we're going to degenerate into name-calling, then let's put your label on:
You're a head-in-the-sand, abusive, machiavellian, industry apologist who's jumping in in defense of a practice that you apparently aren't well informed about.

Telling them to stop this sort of mining is impossible as long as people are buying it.

Uh... we tell crack dealers to stop selling crack while people are buying it. As you seem to be poorly informed about a topic that you wish to preach to me about, I'll clue you in. Mountaintop removal/valley fill mining is an illegal practice. Degrading the quality of a stream is illegal under the Clean Water Act (except in certain conditions which this practice doesn't meet.) State and federal environmental agencies (wholly owned subsidiaries of extractive industries) have illegally allowed hundreds of miles of streams to be buried and mountains to go unreclaimed to their "approximate original contour" (as specified in the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act) just so you can have electricity at five cents per kilowatt-hour.

On the other hand, coal-fired powerplants are horrific polluters, and there are numerous other ways to generate electricity, which any respectable power company could switch to. Putting pressure on companies that build coal-fired powerplants is a slightly less irrational solution to this problem.

Exactly what kind of "pressure" do you propose to apply to power companies? Any forcing of production technologies onto power generators will be met with extreme resistance and eventually overcome as long as there is a much cheaper alternative available. Coal may be a low-priced fuel but it's certainly not a low-cost fuel. The artificially low price comes about because MTR mining exports part of the cost of production onto the local environment and the citizens who reside there. The mining industry thwarts the rules of capitalism which proscribe that all costs should be reflected in the price of the product so that the market can make sound choices. By maintaining their product's artificially low price, they also throw an economic road-block into the path of alternative energy sources by making them look expensive by comparison.

MTR mining also amounts to a taking of property from the citizens. The streams beds from bank to bank belong to the citizens. The industry takes this property from us, not only without compensation; not only without our permission; but over our expressed objection. That's pure, unadulterated, arrogance and theft. Tony Soprano has nothing on these guys.

Consider it.

I have -- apparently more than you have.