Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

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by ibgames

EARTHDATE: May 11, 2014

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REAL LIFE IMITATES SCIENCE FICTION: FORCEFIELDS ARE POSSIBLE (BUT NOT PRACTICAL)

by Hazed

Shields up! Scientists say that laser deflector shields that would provide protection to a spacecraft are technically possible, which will be a great relief should our Solar System ever be invaded by violent aliens.

But there’s a drawback: turning them on would mean the ship’s pilot wouldn’t be able to see where he, she or it is going! Oh dear.

A paper published by the University of Leicester in England suggests that a ball of super-hot plasma could be generated to surround a spaceship, thus protecting it from laser fire. The more dense the plasma is, the better it would be at deflecting enemy fire.

But not only would the shield screen away light-based weapons fire, it would also screen the light that would allow the pilot to see out.

That’s not the only drawback. A ship with a plasma shield would need a massive magnetic array to contain the plasma bubble, and a power source capable of maintaining it. So it’s not really practical yet.

However, the students who wrote the paper suggest there may be other potential uses for this technology.”Another possible application of this principle may be for trapping radiation inside a shell of plasma rather than excluding it. This may be useful for applications that require incredibly high temperature environments, such as experimental fusion reactors."

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/03/laser_deflector_shields_are_possible_with_todays_tech_but_with_a_small_problem/

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