Impulse Power?

[Mistral]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100226/sc_afp/usspacenasamars

Sounds like impulse power-and the beginnings of shield technology too.

 

[TIN_MAN]

Kewel, just in time to launch NOMAD.

 

[Wingsley]

Last one to build a VASIMR-powered spaceship that's shaped like a submarine... gets to pilot the Botany Bay!

 

[CuttingEdge100]

I didn't read anything to suggest shield technology

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I didn't read anything to suggest shield technology

The huge superconducting magnets integral to the VASIMR's system could (according to the article) be used to produce an electromagnetic field that would protect the space craft from solar winds and cosmic radiation.

I kind of doubt this, though, since the purpose of the magnetic field is to construct the drive plasma and expanding it all around the spacecraft strikes me as something a team of half-dead astronauts might attempt in an Apollo 13 scenario.

 

[psCargile]

I discovered the VASIMR project years ago on NASA's websites. They had some great in-depth dpfs I saved. Finally it's getting attention.

 

[Mistral]

I didn't read anything to suggest shield technology

The huge superconducting magnets integral to the VASIMR's system could (according to the article) be used to produce an electromagnetic field that would protect the space craft from solar winds and cosmic radiation.

I kind of doubt this, though, since the purpose of the magnetic field is to construct the drive plasma and expanding it all around the spacecraft strikes me as something a team of half-dead astronauts might attempt in an Apollo 13 scenario.

It struck me as a way to produce a team of all-dead astronauts. Wouldn't they be inside the containment area of the drive plasma?

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I didn't read anything to suggest shield technology

The huge superconducting magnets integral to the VASIMR's system could (according to the article) be used to produce an electromagnetic field that would protect the space craft from solar winds and cosmic radiation.

I kind of doubt this, though, since the purpose of the magnetic field is to construct the drive plasma and expanding it all around the spacecraft strikes me as something a team of half-dead astronauts might attempt in an Apollo 13 scenario.

It struck me as a way to produce a team of all-dead astronauts. Wouldn't they be inside the containment area of the drive plasma?

No, because the plasma is contained within the vessel of the engine along the axis of the magnetic field; if you make the field larger, the plasma is contained in the same space, but the field still expands outside the ship.

The only thing is the superconducting magnets aren't designed to extend their field all around the ship, so protection will probably be minimal with a lot of other headaches involved.