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Can this phenomenon be used as a shield for spacecraft? If a laser travels inside a fiber cable, then the laser beam can wrap around the spacecraft. If the beam
by greendesk 9y ago
Can this phenomenon be used as a shield for spacecraft? If a laser travels inside a fiber cable, then the laser beam can wrap around the spacecraft. If the beam can stop electrons, it can potentially stop the larger particles traveling in space.
- pif 9y ago> the laser beam can wrap around the spacecraft. If you want the laser beam carry enough impulse to stop a rock flying towards you at a few thousands km/h, good luck keeping the fiber in place! Every time the fibre tries to make the light change direction, the light tries to straighten the fibre, just like water running through a pipe.
- hossbeast 9y agoI think GP was talking about shielding against radiation of various forms, not rocks.
- sofasurfer 9y agoI think a better way would be to make a mini magnetosphere around the space craft - most of the radiation that’s dangerous in space is high speed protons in the solar wind. By surrounding the space craft with a magnetised plasma you can make these deflect around it, just like Earth’s magnetic field protects us from the solar wind.