# way of protecting astronauts against cosmic radiation?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 11, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597 "2005-08-11T15:51:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/1 "2005-08-11T15:51:38Z")
I have just read that space travel may be impossible as the astronauts would be in danger of cosmic radiation.
[http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/marspeople.asp](http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/marspeople.asp)
The article mentions alternative sheilding materials. I was wondering whether one could one rig a giant circular magnetic fields round the space ship or is this impractical or ineffective?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/2 "2005-08-11T15:55:58Z")
Oh. Cosmic radiation. I thought this was going to be about **1950’s Cosmic Death Rays**. 😛
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/3 "2005-08-11T15:59:19Z")
> [@scm1001](#):
>
> I have just read that space travel may be impossible as the astronauts would be in danger of cosmic radiation.
For God’s sake – nobody tell John Glenn!
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/4 "2005-08-11T16:00:43Z")
The solution may lay with [Demron](http://www.radshield.com/).
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/5 "2005-08-11T16:14:19Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#):
>
> Oh. Cosmic radiation. I thought this was going to be about **1950’s Cosmic Death Rays**. 😛
Personally, I figured it would be about “[comic](http://www.superherostuff.com/Biographies/FantasticFourBiography.html) rays”
But really, the best way to keep jokes like mine out of GQ is to change the title. Mods, a little help here?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/6 "2005-08-11T16:18:47Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#):
>
> Personally, I figured it would be about “[comic](http://www.superherostuff.com/Biographies/FantasticFourBiography.html) rays”
You have to watch out for those comic rays. Dastardly devices that cause people to laugh themselves to death, they are!
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/7 "2005-08-11T16:23:07Z")
Didn’t the English invent a Comic ray to use against the Germans in WWII?
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/8 "2005-08-11T16:24:57Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#):
>
> Didn’t the English invent a Comic ray to use against the Germans in WWII?
My dog has no nose. 😃
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/9 "2005-08-11T16:28:42Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#):
>
> My dog has no nose. 😃
Your dog has no nose? How does he smell? 😕
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/10 "2005-08-11T16:35:31Z")
[Awful](http://www.jumpstation.ca/recroom/comedy/python/joke.html). 😃
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/11 "2005-08-11T16:47:20Z")
HAW HAW HAW HA…plop.
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/12 "2005-08-11T16:49:58Z")
:eek:
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### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/13 "2005-08-11T23:43:27Z")
I believe NASA is seriously studying the problem of fighting “_comic rays_”. I think they have developed an “Anti-Rip Taylor Confetti Shield”. Intensive research is still being done on the “Carrot-Top Prop Deflector”.
Gallagher is proving to be a difficult problem though.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/14 "2005-08-12T07:31:56Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#):
>
> Didn’t the English invent a Comic ray to use against the Germans in WWII?
Only once, for about 20 minutes.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/15 "2005-08-12T10:56:21Z")
Thread title has been changed.
Let’s get back to the serious answers.
**samclem, GQ moderator**
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### Author:  [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/16 "2005-08-12T11:51:16Z")
> [@adam yax](#):
>
> The solution may lay with [Demron](http://www.radshield.com/).
It says it is good against low energy gamma - I am not sure of the composition of com(s)ic rays and which are the most dangerous (high or low energy)
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/17 "2005-08-12T13:52:13Z")
> [@scm1001](#):
>
> It says it is good against low energy gamma - I am not sure of the composition of com(s)ic rays and which are the most dangerous (high or low energy)
I’m not sure where it is on the site, but I have been there before and saw something that said they could possibly design the fabric to be proof against whatever ratdiation is expected. They may not have the details down, and it may not even be possible, but I imagine that they’ll try. The money it would be worth if they get it to work would be huge.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/18 "2005-08-12T14:42:27Z")
> [@scm1001](#):
>
> It says it is good against low energy gamma - I am not sure of the composition of com(s)ic rays and which are the most dangerous (high or low energy)
Cosmic rays consist of almost everthing you can imagine: x-rays, gamma rays, electrons, protons, atomic nucleii from helium to uranium, and Buicks. Ok, one of those is an exaggeration, but you get the idea. Because of the disparate nature of cosmic rays, different materials and technologies must be used to block different types. What might be effective against, say gamma radiation, might not do so well against heavy nucleii - particularly since a collision with such a massive, fast-moving particle can produce a spray of secondary radiation, including gamma and other dangerous radiation. It’s not a trivial enginerring problem, for sure.
Comic rays consist almost entirely of pies and Groucho glasses.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/19 "2005-08-12T17:47:00Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#):
>
> Cosmic rays consist of almost everthing you can imagine: x-rays, gamma rays, electrons, protons, atomic nucleii from helium to uranium, and Buicks. Ok, one of those is an exaggeration, but you get the idea. Because of the disparate nature of cosmic rays, different materials and technologies must be used to block different types. What might be effective against, say gamma radiation, might not do so well against heavy nucleii - particularly since a collision with such a massive, fast-moving particle can produce a spray of secondary radiation, including gamma and other dangerous radiation. It’s not a trivial enginerring problem, for sure.
Well, you can just dodge the Buick-rays; they’re massive but extremely slow moving. 😉
As **Q.E.D.** says, “cosmic ray” is a general label for any radiations, electromagnetic packets, atomic and subatomic particles, exotic particles (antimatter, neutrinos, WHIMPs, et cetera) and even sometimes applied to the products of collisions between cosmic radiation and the atmosphere (pions and muons, for instance). You don’t have much hope of shielding against galatic or high energy cosmic rays; even the Earth’s atmosphere, tens of miles thick and opaque to most x-rays and gammas, doesn’t filter them all out. A very strong magnetic field will deflect charged particles but may also have detrimental effects on your equipment and your personnel, since there’s no way to shield magnetic fields. Fortunately, extrasolar cosmic rays, while a long-term chronic hazard, are rarely intense enough to pose an immediate threat. Still, for permenant habitation in space it is a real concern.
Solar “cosmic rays” or solar wind–primarily charged particles eminating from the Sun–are a greater immediate and cycical hazard owing to quasiperiodic and highly intense solar flaring. Staying within the Earth’s magnetosphere helps protect orbital missions and the Earth-orbit space stations but is of lesser benefit to Moon and Mars-based or -orbiting missions as these bodies have no significant magnetic field. This is a significant concern for long-term, interplanetary manned missions, and can only be marginally mitigated by using shielding mass to protect the habitat volumes of the vessel.
> [@Q.E.D.](#):
>
> Comic rays consist almost entirely of pies and Groucho glasses.
“Mr. President, we have a comic ray gap! We can’t allow those filthy Commies to get ahead of us in the Humor Race!”
Fortunately for the liberty, the American Way, and the purity and essense of our precious bodily fluids those Russians seem to have a rather dry if not completely desiccated sense of humor, and therefore our efforts to appeal to the hearts and minds of comedy-loving peoples in every corner of the globe, unwittingly aided and abetted by those oblivious Commies in Hollywood, have lead to triumphant success in American-style amusement over Commie sarcasm around the world. We even have those frogs in Brittany laughing at quintessential Americans like Jerry Lewis and Woody Allen. And we’ve managed to continue and amplify the process in the post-Comic War environment by our recent selection of Presidents from Gerry Ford through the present day, with only a slight dip during the first Bush presidency. Mind you, he did his best with his statements on broccoli and puking on the Japanese Prime Minister, but he just lacked that certain verve, the irreducible timing that only the masters–Buster Keaton, Abbot and Costello, Peter Sellers, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan–could master.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/way-of-protecting-astronauts-against-cosmic-radiation/316597/20 "2005-08-12T17:58:39Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#):
>
> …there’s no way to shield magnetic fields.
I guess this depends upon your definition of “shield”. If you mean completely block out magnetic fields, you’ll get no argument from me. But, it is perfectly possible to attenuate the strength of a field by surrounding the area to be protected with a contiguous shell of magnetically “conductive” (we say it has a high _permeability_) material, in the same manner as a Faraday cage. While the field inside such an enclosure (or outside, if you are using it to _contain_ a magnetic field, as is done in some types of speakers) can never be zero, it gets smaller with increasing permeability of the shielding material. Currently, a material known as mu metal is one of the best that is readily available.
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