09-16-2015, 10:34 AM
One thing we haven't discussed yet is the radiation environment. Jupiter is notorious for having one of the harshest radiation environments in the solar system, thanks to its strong magnetic field.
But those are all trapped particles, which have much lower energies (by several orders of magnitude) than cosmic rays. They're not very hard to shield against. In the long run, it's the constant rain of high-energy cosmic-ray particles that will slowly kill you.
So I suspect that, because of its great magnetic field, cosmic ray levels around Jupiter may actually be the lowest in the solar system. I haven't yet been able to find any measurements to verify that, though.
If true, it means the habitats can get by with relatively little shielding — just enough to block the charged particles. Radiation levels inside the colony could easily be lower than they are here on Earth. Going outside (for maintenance or survey work or whatever) could be problematic, though. We might need either teleoperated robots, or some sort of hard-shell suit with integrated shielding. Maybe it would look something like this?
![[Image: DSC_1210_web.jpg]](http://www.oceanfutures.org/sites/default/files/Blog/EXOSUIT/DSC_1210_web.jpg)
But those are all trapped particles, which have much lower energies (by several orders of magnitude) than cosmic rays. They're not very hard to shield against. In the long run, it's the constant rain of high-energy cosmic-ray particles that will slowly kill you.
So I suspect that, because of its great magnetic field, cosmic ray levels around Jupiter may actually be the lowest in the solar system. I haven't yet been able to find any measurements to verify that, though.
If true, it means the habitats can get by with relatively little shielding — just enough to block the charged particles. Radiation levels inside the colony could easily be lower than they are here on Earth. Going outside (for maintenance or survey work or whatever) could be problematic, though. We might need either teleoperated robots, or some sort of hard-shell suit with integrated shielding. Maybe it would look something like this?
Joe Strout
Lead Developer, High Frontier