One of the main problems of space travel can be radiation, as Astronauts who are en route to

the moon or mars will be exposed to intense radiation from the sun and galactic events like supernovas,

which increase the chance for cancer in one’s body. So finding a shield is a mandatory thing to find to

live on the moon, and there are many options to get, the first of them being passive shielding, which is a

type of shield that’s between a radioactive force and a radiosensitive target, which absorbs the radiation

before it reaches the target, a good example would be when people wear aprons to protect their vital

organs when taking x-rays. In space, it’s actually more complicated, due to the variations in particle

composition and energy spectra that made it difficult to develop a catch-all shield, with the best human

choices are multipurpose, hydrogen-rich, and have a small atomic mass. The research for it evaluates

the feasibility of using multilayer materials, water walls, and varied habitat configurations in order to

have astronaut radiation exposure as low as reasonably achievable. Another way to fix that was from

the Personal Radiation Shielding for interplanetary missions (PERSEO), which proposes the use of water

as a material for developing a radiation-suit to protect astronauts from the high-radiation filled

environment known as space. Space missions often involves traveling outside the magnetic field, which

is responsible to protecting earth from EM waves, but if we passed the boundaries, then we risked high

levels of damaged to bone marrow and organs from the occasional solar storm. PERSEO takes the first

steps to creating a wearable, radiation-safe suit by testing if an astronaut could be comfortable in a

water-filled suit, and can be drained without wasting water, which is considered a precious resource in

space, with the suit’s prototype being test by the ISS, or International Space Station.

An optimal shielding configuration has been realized in the first phase of the spacecraft Scale

Magnetospheric Protection from Galactic Cosmic Radiation, with it being referred to as a

Magnetospheric Dipolar Torus(MDT). This configuration has the singular ability to deflect the vast

majority of GCR energies, including HZE ions, it also shields both habitat and magnets, eliminating the

secondary particle, which is an irradiation hazard, which dominates over the primary GCR for the
magnetic topologies that were investigated in the past, but are now closed. Another type of shielding is

inspired by Earth’s magnetic field, that is Active Radiation Shielding, which both deflect and trap

portions of the incoming space radiation, with many spacecraft designers have proposed innovative

designs that form Electromagnetic field that are large enough to cover spacecraft and can mimic the

protection of earth’s magnetosphere. But while its field is under development, the approaches include

electrostatic, magnetic and plasma shielding. Electrostatic shielding involves creating an electric field

around the habitat of the astronaut, with the negative potential slows down negatively charged

radiation. Magnetic Shielding consists of forming a large magnetic field around the spacecraft, mainly

using superconducting solenoids, but unlike with electric fields, there were suspected physiological

effects of moving within a strong magnetic field. The design must allow for a habitable region without

the significant magnetic field strengths. But unlike the other two, Plasma shielding is a field of

developing research, which is fundamentally consists of a mass of ionized particles that is entrapped in

electromagnetic fields, swirling around a spacecraft enclosure and serving to deflect or ensnare any

incoming charged particles, it’s protection was threefold, first, an electrostatic field with a positive

potential repels positively-charged radiation. Second, a magnetic field is added to ensnare the negatively

charged particles that are drawn to the positive potential, and third, these negatively charged particles

would be drawn towards the positively charged surface, which neutralize the surface, which resulted in

a passive current-absorbing shield is placed at the magnetic poles, and absorbing the negatively charged

particles before the impact on the positive surface.

It’s well known that no electric fields can exist inside hollow conductors, even if there are

positive charges outside of the tube, with the conductor acting like an electrostatic shield, this proven

true if the conductor is placed at a constant potential, by using a “segmented shield,” in one experiment

in Harvard, where one can demonstrated that electrostatic shielding can’t work if the potential is not

constant, but if it’s constant, the shielding effect arises from superposition of the field from the outside
charge distribution and it’s opposing and direct observable “back-field” of the hollow conductor in the

demonstration.

This is the research NASA is using to find a way to live on the moon, in case if the earth can’t

hold too much human population, and we won’t fight over too much supplies while we’re at it. Because

it’s just one leap for mankind to be on the moon, but it’s just one jump for all of humankind to live on

the moon.

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph241/clark1/​.

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/strg/nstrf2016/Passive_Radiation_Shielding/​.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2352.html​.

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2018_Phase_I_Phase_II/Spacecraft_Scale_

Magnetospheric_Protection_from_Galactic_Cosmic_Radiation/​.

https://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/presentations/electrostatic-shielding​.

https://www.transitions.com/en-us/why-transitions/the-technology/photochromic-tech/​.