Solar Flares Shield Astronauts from Cosmic Rays

It doesn't come easy writes "Considering all of the research into better shielding for astronauts, it's interesting to note that solar flares can help shield space travelers from dangerous cosmic rays. From the article: "The crew of the ISS absorbed about 30% fewer cosmic rays than usual [during this last month of high solar activity]," says Frank Cucinotta, NASA's chief radiation health officer at the Johnson Space Center. "The storms actually improved the radiation environment inside the station." Scientists have long known about this phenomenon. It's called a "Forbush decrease," after American physicist Scott E. Forbush, who studied cosmic rays in the 1930s and 40s. So, I guess it would be safer to plan a manned Mars mission to coincide with peak sunspot activity?"

Comments

Shields up

[cy_a253]

So, I guess it would be safer to plan a manned Mars mission to coincide with peak sunspot activity?"

How about having the spacecraft generate its own external magnetic field? How effective would that be?

Re:Shields up

[shokk]

You mean like a hot hydrogen plasma confined in a toroid shaped magnetic field similar to what they use for fusion research? Maybe it doesn't need to be quite that hot to protect the astronauts, but keeping it moving around the outside of the craft may produce the same benefit.

Re:1/r^2 kills this

[mattjb0010]

Fields stronger than 100,000 Gauss can levitate living things.

I've stuck the movie of the levitating frog up here