>The researchers believe it is possible to exploit this knowledge of turbulence to create a much smaller protective bubble, and have confirmed this belief — fir

>The researchers believe it is possible to exploit this knowledge of turbulence to create a much smaller protective bubble, and have confirmed this belief — first through computer simulations, and then in a laboratory experiment. The latter involved injecting a supersonic plasma into a 1.5 m long vacuum vessel lined with magnetic coils, with a target magnet placed at the far end of the vessel. Using both optical imaging and an electromagnetic probe, Bamford’s team showed that the target magnet deflected the plasma such that the volume of space surrounding the magnet was almost entirely free of plasma particles (Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 50 124025). Bamford and colleagues say these results show that a spacecraft could in fact be protected using a bubble just some 100–200 m across. This, they say, would correspond to a magnet of about 1 Tesla, which would be light enough to be transported into space."