# US 8,740,154 B2 · Spacecraft shield > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,740,154 B2 - Document ID: US8740154B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/990,420 - Filed: 2010-03-26 - Published: 2011-03-03 - Granted: 2014-06-03 - Earliest claimed: 2009-03-26 - Assignees: The Science and Technology Facilities Council - Applicants: Ruth Bamford; Robert Bingham - Inventors: Ruth Bamford; Robert Bingham - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8740154B2 ## CPC - B64G 1/54: Protection against radiation - B64G: COSMONAUTICS; VEHICLES OR EQUIPMENT THEREFOR ## 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. ## Claims ### Claim 1 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. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 the source controller being configured to cause the ongoing perturbation of the shield magnetic field in one or more of: an irregular manner, a stochastic manner, and a continuous manner. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 the source controller being configured to cause the ongoing perturbation of the magnetic field in one or more dynamic modes selected from: changes in magnitude; changes in direction; changes in structure; and changes in the number of magnetic poles. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 the source controller being configured to cause the ongoing perturbation of the shield magnetic field such that the perturbations demonstrate a characteristic timescale in the range of 0.001 to 10 seconds. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The spacecraft of claim 4 the source controller being configured to cause the ongoing perturbation of the shield magnetic field such that the perturbations demonstrate a characteristic dynamic range over said characteristic timescale of at least 1%, at least 3%, or at least 10%, of an average value, in one or more dynamic modes. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The spacecraft of claim 4, the source controller being configured to cause the ongoing perturbation of the shield magnetic field such that the perturbation demonstrates a characteristic timescale in the range of 0.01 to 0.1 seconds. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 the source controller and magnetic field source being configured to generate a shield magnetic field having an average field strength of at least 1×10−5 Tesla. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The spacecraft of claim 7, the source controller and magnetic field source being configured to generate a shield magnetic field having an average field strength of at least 1×10−4 Tesla at the magnetic field source. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 the source controller and the magnetic field source being configured to generate a shield magnetic field having an average field strength of 1×10−7 Tesla at a distance of at least 10 m, and preferably at least 100 m from the magnetic field source. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 further comprising a power supply configured to deliver electrical power to the magnetic field source of at least 100 W. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The spacecraft of claim 10, the power supply being configured to deliver electrical power to the magnetic field source of at least 500 W. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 the magnetic field source being configured to generate the shield magnetic field with at least one of a quadrapole and a higher order pole component. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 the magnetic field source being configured to generate the shield magnetic field using one or more magnet coils. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The spacecraft of claim 13 the source controller being configured to cause ongoing perturbation of the shield magnetic field by varying the current in at least one of said coils. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The spacecraft of claim 14 the source controller being configured to cause ongoing perturbation of the shield magnetic field by varying the current in at least one of said coils, by at least 1%, or at least 3%, or at least 10%. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The spacecraft of claim 14 the source controller being configured to vary the current over the specified range at frequencies between 0.1 Hz and 1000 Hz. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The spacecraft of claim 16 the source controller being configured to vary the current over the specified range at frequencies between 1 Hz and 100 Hz. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 the source controller comprising: a computer element configured to implement a perturbation control algorithm to generate a shield control signal so as to control the magnetic field source to generate a shield magnetic field in accordance with the algorithm. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The spacecraft of claim 18, further comprising at least one of a solar wind particle detector and a magnetic field detector, the at least one detector being operably coupled to the source controller. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The spacecraft of claim 19 the computer element being configured to generate the shield control signal based on measurements from the at least one detector such that a rate or size or nature of the ongoing perturbation is varied according to the measurements. ### Claim 21 (depends on 18) The spacecraft of claim 18 further comprising a telemetry signal receiver, the computer element being configured to generate the shield control signal based on data from a received telemetry signal. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The spacecraft of claim 1 further comprising an injector element configured to inject material into the shield magnetic field. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The spacecraft of claim 22 further comprising an increased density shield plasma formed from the material injected into the shield magnetic field, the increased shield density plasma providing increased protection of the spacecraft from said energetic charged particles. ### Claim 24 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. ### Claim 25 (depends on 24) The method of claim 24, the shield being generated so as to protect the spacecraft from protons in at least some of a range of energies of 1 MeV to 50 MeV. ### Claim 26 (depends on 24) The method of claim 24, generating a shield with an ongoing perturbation including causing the ongoing perturbation by varying driving current applied to one or more magnet coils. ### Claim 27 (depends on 26) The method of claim 26, varying the driving current including varying the driving current according to a predetermined algorithm. ### Claim 28 (depends on 26) The method of claim 26, varying the driving current including varying the driving current on a characteristic timescale in the range 0.001 to 10 seconds. ### Claim 29 (depends on 28) The method of claim 28, varying the driving current including varying the driving current on a characteristic timescale in the range of 0.01 to 0.1 seconds. ### Claim 30 (depends on 24) The method of claim 24 further comprising injecting material from the spacecraft into the shield magnetic field to increase the density of plasma in a vicinity of the spacecraft.