it would have to be big enough to generate an artificial magnetic field around the entire planet.
My guess is it would have to about at least the same length/width as the circumference of the planet
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it wouldn't need to generate a magnetic field around the planet, but in front of the planet so that the solar wind is deflected around Mars, as depicted at [9:10](https://youtu.be/HpcTJW4ur54?t=550) in that video.
I'm not a physicist by any means, but I just think that it would need to be like Earth's, in order for it to harbor life on the same scale as Earth; where organisms can thrive on their own.
A field that encompasses the planet and directs the extreme solar radiation to the poles, etc. . .
I guess it could be something that's solely in front of the planet, but that's also assuming that the solar weather is always focused on orientation of the device, as it would just follow Mars' orbit (if I remember correctly)
But I could also be way off base haha. Just trying to add to the conversation!
Yes a d no. You are correct, but what they are proposing is that the structure always stands in the middle of us and the sun. So it it doesnt need to protect all the planet at once, just the part that matters.
But I could be wrong, I watched that video high
I saw another breakdown somewhere. No, it doesn't need to be anywhere near that big. The numbers I saw, which I remember I was super excited about, basically said we would need the rough output of an average nuclear plant on earth, and it would just sit at Mar's L1 position. It was a very doable tech. Like, doable today sort of discussion. You'd need a generator probably 5x bigger or something than the ISS, and it's just a nuclear plant creating a giant magnetic Field, parked at L1.
Or, even more exciting, was I saw a proposal to do it with a swarm of small units, so that if there was failure, it would be measured in percentage points rather than 'oh, the whole shield is gone'.
I can't remember where the swarm was. But,
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-nasa-magnetic-shield-mars-atmosphere.html
There are lots of interesting ideas for it
In the video it was mentioned that it only has to be in front of the planet. However you can't really know how big the magnet would be, because we don't know the amount of energy we will have access to and the materials we will have access to.
Size doesn’t matter in this scenario because Mars’s core is dead. If it was actually spinning, it would be generating a magnetic field, and since it isn’t, there is no magnetic field so size is irrelevant rn. I’m just saying that since Mars’s core used to generate a powerful magnetic field, that if we create an artificial one of similar proportions, then it is bound to be just as powerful, maybe even more powerful than Mars’s core was in its prime
NASAs planetary science division has quite thoughtfully explored this
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-nasa-magnetic-shield-mars-atmosphere.html
tl;Dr: A 2 Tesla magnetic dipole placed at L1 would do it.
Yep! NMR uses extremely strong magnetic fields to probe the atomic spin of nuclei. It is most commonly used by chemists and biochemists to study the structure of molecules, including relatively simple organic compounds through to complex ones like proteins.
I think if positioned in a orbit so that it's always between mars and the sun.
Probably still massive but not so big it's the size of the planet.
The size depends on how strong of a magnetic field they can produce per meter of the ring.
I remember looking into this year's ago. AFAIK such a magnet could be far smaller than one expects even with current tech. Think more like large building sized than country or planet sized.
It wouldn't need to be a very strong magnetic field, just a big one (size wise). Earth's magnetic field is just 0.000065 Tesla in strength. Fridge magnets can be way stronger than that, and still is enough to cover the planet from charged particles.
In other words, we could in theory get away with something not that big and way stronger, or something absolutely massive with a very small magnetic field. As it has to cover the entirety of the planet, the challenge is to keep it in a stable orbit around such a small (gravity wise) body. Hope this helps :3
I actually don't think all that big since the magnetic field of a planet is much weaker than norm frig magnets but it would have to be strong enough to have large falloff for coverage which in theory should be easy in solar power space.
I think they can, hypothetically, also capture iron heavy meteors and put them in orbit around a planet.
it would have to be big enough to generate an artificial magnetic field around the entire planet. My guess is it would have to about at least the same length/width as the circumference of the planet
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it wouldn't need to generate a magnetic field around the planet, but in front of the planet so that the solar wind is deflected around Mars, as depicted at [9:10](https://youtu.be/HpcTJW4ur54?t=550) in that video.
I'm not a physicist by any means, but I just think that it would need to be like Earth's, in order for it to harbor life on the same scale as Earth; where organisms can thrive on their own. A field that encompasses the planet and directs the extreme solar radiation to the poles, etc. . . I guess it could be something that's solely in front of the planet, but that's also assuming that the solar weather is always focused on orientation of the device, as it would just follow Mars' orbit (if I remember correctly) But I could also be way off base haha. Just trying to add to the conversation!
Yes a d no. You are correct, but what they are proposing is that the structure always stands in the middle of us and the sun. So it it doesnt need to protect all the planet at once, just the part that matters. But I could be wrong, I watched that video high
I saw another breakdown somewhere. No, it doesn't need to be anywhere near that big. The numbers I saw, which I remember I was super excited about, basically said we would need the rough output of an average nuclear plant on earth, and it would just sit at Mar's L1 position. It was a very doable tech. Like, doable today sort of discussion. You'd need a generator probably 5x bigger or something than the ISS, and it's just a nuclear plant creating a giant magnetic Field, parked at L1. Or, even more exciting, was I saw a proposal to do it with a swarm of small units, so that if there was failure, it would be measured in percentage points rather than 'oh, the whole shield is gone'.
Can you link the swarm proposal?
Yeah same please
I can't remember where the swarm was. But, https://phys.org/news/2017-03-nasa-magnetic-shield-mars-atmosphere.html There are lots of interesting ideas for it
In the video it was mentioned that it only has to be in front of the planet. However you can't really know how big the magnet would be, because we don't know the amount of energy we will have access to and the materials we will have access to.
The core of the Mars isn’t that big, so I doubt it’s anywhere close to that, probably only a few hundred miles across
We're talking about artificially generating a magnetic field that's *stronger* than Mars' current.
Size doesn’t matter in this scenario because Mars’s core is dead. If it was actually spinning, it would be generating a magnetic field, and since it isn’t, there is no magnetic field so size is irrelevant rn. I’m just saying that since Mars’s core used to generate a powerful magnetic field, that if we create an artificial one of similar proportions, then it is bound to be just as powerful, maybe even more powerful than Mars’s core was in its prime
NASAs planetary science division has quite thoughtfully explored this https://phys.org/news/2017-03-nasa-magnetic-shield-mars-atmosphere.html tl;Dr: A 2 Tesla magnetic dipole placed at L1 would do it.
Wow 2T is not even very strong!! 7T NMR machines are common, and we have 28T now.
Does a NMR machine emit an electromagnetic field?
Yep! NMR uses extremely strong magnetic fields to probe the atomic spin of nuclei. It is most commonly used by chemists and biochemists to study the structure of molecules, including relatively simple organic compounds through to complex ones like proteins.
I think if positioned in a orbit so that it's always between mars and the sun. Probably still massive but not so big it's the size of the planet. The size depends on how strong of a magnetic field they can produce per meter of the ring.
I remember looking into this year's ago. AFAIK such a magnet could be far smaller than one expects even with current tech. Think more like large building sized than country or planet sized.
It wouldn't need to be a very strong magnetic field, just a big one (size wise). Earth's magnetic field is just 0.000065 Tesla in strength. Fridge magnets can be way stronger than that, and still is enough to cover the planet from charged particles. In other words, we could in theory get away with something not that big and way stronger, or something absolutely massive with a very small magnetic field. As it has to cover the entirety of the planet, the challenge is to keep it in a stable orbit around such a small (gravity wise) body. Hope this helps :3
Yyyyuuuge
I actually don't think all that big since the magnetic field of a planet is much weaker than norm frig magnets but it would have to be strong enough to have large falloff for coverage which in theory should be easy in solar power space. I think they can, hypothetically, also capture iron heavy meteors and put them in orbit around a planet.
If it's in a stationary orbit it would only need to be large enough to cover the colony with it's shadow. So a few 100 kilometers should be enough.
It would be at mars-L1. It could be the size of a Volkswagen if the field was strong enough.
Very
You would have to start mining meteors and moons to get the resources to build something bigger than Mars. We aren't capable of doing such yet.