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How much energy would be required to provide a localized magnetosphere to protect the garden from cosmic rays?

by rocky1138 2y ago

Lerc 2y ago
How tolerant are plants to cosmic rays?
- rocky1138 2y ago
  This is what the test covered in the article is set to discover.
pbreit 2y ago
Seems like solar could easily supply?
- labster 2y ago
  Easily, assuming you have solar panels that could survive the temperatures of the lunar night.
  - Filligree 2y ago
    You don't absolutely need to put your base somewhere it'll have a night. There's a large mountain chain on Moon's south pole that's in constant sunlight.
    - jamiek88 2y ago
      Yep and whoever controls that, controls the moon. It’s prime real estate.
XorNot 2y ago
Plants grow in radioactive soil around Chernobyl just fine though.
- justinclift 2y ago
  Those radiation liking mushrooms could be an interesting test for the next batch of plants to the moon. :)
russdill 2y ago
When people think of radiation protection, they think of the magnetosphere. But they really need to be thinking of the atmosphere. There's a reason traveling on a plane gets you a higher dose of radiation and it's not a weaker magnetosphere.
- jajko 2y ago
  There will never, ever be such atmosphere on Moon as its on Earth. Too low gravity for example, solar winds would scrub it pretty fast even if you would somehow create it 100% with a snap of fingers. Its nice dreaming about options but this aint realistic.
  - Filligree 2y ago
    Cover your garden with a few dozen meters of rock. In fact, build your base in a cave.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - phire 2y ago
    We are only talking about "fast" relative to normal planetary timescales. My understanding is that it would still take hundreds of years for the solar wind to strip away the atmosphere. If a civilisation had the technology to quickly put an atmosphere on the moon, it has the technology to continually replenish the atmosphere as long as that civilisation lasts. It would never be practical (or a good idea) but a post-scarcity society could pull it off as a vanity project.
- _nalply 2y ago
  Perhaps a thick shell of water suffices. In the order of meters, perhaps one to four meters. Perhaps combine it with lead, in the order of centimeters, perhaps ten centimeters, then one meter of water would suffice.
  - 2y ago

How much energy would be required to provide a localized magnetosphere to protect the garden from cosmic rays?

Lerc 2y ago

How tolerant are plants to cosmic rays?

rocky1138 2y ago
This is what the test covered in the article is set to discover.

pbreit 2y ago

Seems like solar could easily supply?

labster 2y ago
Easily, assuming you have solar panels that could survive the temperatures of the lunar night.
- Filligree 2y ago
  You don't absolutely need to put your base somewhere it'll have a night. There's a large mountain chain on Moon's south pole that's in constant sunlight.
  - jamiek88 2y ago
    Yep and whoever controls that, controls the moon. It’s prime real estate.

XorNot 2y ago

Plants grow in radioactive soil around Chernobyl just fine though.

justinclift 2y ago
Those radiation liking mushrooms could be an interesting test for the next batch of plants to the moon. :)

russdill 2y ago

When people think of radiation protection, they think of the magnetosphere. But they really need to be thinking of the atmosphere. There's a reason traveling on a plane gets you a higher dose of radiation and it's not a weaker magnetosphere.

jajko 2y ago
There will never, ever be such atmosphere on Moon as its on Earth. Too low gravity for example, solar winds would scrub it pretty fast even if you would somehow create it 100% with a snap of fingers. Its nice dreaming about options but this aint realistic.
- Filligree 2y ago
  Cover your garden with a few dozen meters of rock. In fact, build your base in a cave.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- phire 2y ago
  We are only talking about "fast" relative to normal planetary timescales. My understanding is that it would still take hundreds of years for the solar wind to strip away the atmosphere. If a civilisation had the technology to quickly put an atmosphere on the moon, it has the technology to continually replenish the atmosphere as long as that civilisation lasts. It would never be practical (or a good idea) but a post-scarcity society could pull it off as a vanity project.
_nalply 2y ago
Perhaps a thick shell of water suffices. In the order of meters, perhaps one to four meters. Perhaps combine it with lead, in the order of centimeters, perhaps ten centimeters, then one meter of water would suffice.
- 2y ago