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US 8,740,154 B2Granted
Spacecraft shield
AssigneeThe Science and Technology Facilities Council
InventorsRuth Bamford, Robert Bingham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A spacecraft is described which uses a magnetic field source to generate a shield magnetic field to protect the spacecraft from energetic charged particles. The field may be perturbed to increase the effectiveness of the protection. Injection of material into the shield cavity to enhance the local plasma density may also be used.
Claims30
A spacecraft comprising:
- a magnetic field source configured to generate a shield magnetic field to protect the spacecraft from energetic charged particles;
- and
- a source controller configured to control the magnetic field source so as to provide ongoing perturbation of the shield magnetic field, the perturbation being ongoing independently of changes in an external environment around the spacecraft.
A method of shielding a spacecraft from energetic charged particles comprising:
- generating a shield magnetic field with an ongoing perturbation so as to protect the spacecraft from energetic charged particles, the perturbation being ongoing independently of changes in an external environment around the spacecraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.