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October 13th, 2007
Forget rockets – go to Mars in a cosmic fruit bowl
Abstract:
While the charged spheres would be made of lightweight hollow aluminium, the material shielding the crew capsule would incorporate the latterday wunderkind of chemistry - the carbon nanotube - in a novel composite with aluminium. The nanotubes are light, yet their toughness means they can take a pounding from heavy incoming ions, Tripathi says.
"The take-home message from my research is that if we want to be 100% confident that we can protect the astronauts and their habitat, we are going to need a smart combination of material and electrostatic shielding," Tripathi told New Scientist.
Source:
space.newscientist.com
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