Quote:
Originally Posted by Kebsis
logic.exe, why would assembling a ship in orbit help keep out radiation?
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Sorry, I may have been unclear. What I meant was that the heavy components required to block out the radiation can be launched into low earth orbit with multiple launches. While in assembly in low earth orbit the pieces are protected from radiation. Once it's assembled the thick armor plating will protect the interior from radiation once it leaves orbit.
Dcl, yeah you may be right, perhaps I am being a little too optimistic. Like I said in my other post, there are lots of people trying to find a good solution to the problem that avoids having to line the ship with thick heavy lead plating. If we don't and we end up having to line all our ships with lead, well that would probably kill the idea of easy routine space travel and any form of personal space travel would be totally out of the question. It's still within the realm of feasibility though. I do agree though that it would be slow and cumbersome, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of human exploration of our solar system, it just makes it more inconvenient.
This highlights the ever growing importance of robotic probes. Even if we found an easy way to block out the radiation, we'd have to send reconaissance probes anyway, this makes them all the more important if we ever plan on sending humans to other celestial bodies.
Unfortunately, we probably won't ever be taking vacations up to Mars unless magical shields a la Star Trek can be built.