Magneto-Ionization Spacecraft Shield For Interpanetary Travel: Radiation Absorbtion Experiments*

An important consideration when humans make the journey to Mars is exposure to high radiation levels. Our conceptual design for a spacecraft radiation shield consists of two parts. The active shield is a magnetic field capable of deflecting or funneling the charged particles to areas of strong field. The passive shield consists of gas-filled bubbles placed at strong-field regions that absorb energy from funneled particles by ionization and scattering. An important feature of our group’s work are experiments conducted to determine the ability of various materials to block radiation. We tested the materials Demron and Vectran which will hold the ionization gases. Our experiments consisted of capturing a radiation absorption spectrum at various material thicknesses. Materials were exposed to radiation from several sources at varying energies. Each X-ray and gamma-ray peak from the spectrum of charged particles was fit with a Gaussian and the attenuation length was determined. The materials showed promise for blocking X-rays, but had difficulty stopping Gamma-rays.