09-20-2015, 06:55 AM
(09-19-2015, 09:39 AM)JoeP Wrote: Mercury is a great place for materials and energy as you point out, but I think the planet's magnetic field is pretty weak. So like many other places you'll need great shielding unless you want to go down underground on the surface for your colony.
Yes, a surface colony on Mercury would be really hard, I think, not just because of the radiation, but mainly because of the sun — heat rejection could be a real problem. Radiators wouldn't work well there because anything edge-on to the sun would still be in view of the ground, which is reaching 800° all around you.
(09-19-2015, 09:39 AM)JoeP Wrote: Perhaps with the huge solar energy resources, is generating a protective magnetic field around an orbiting colony feasible?
That's an interesting idea! If it were going to work anywhere, that'd be the place. I know there has been some speculation about that, even back in the 70s, but I don't know that it's ever been studied in any detail. Might be possible.
The other thing is, I would expect that cosmic rays get weaker the closer you get to the Sun (because you're getting deeper within the Sun's magnetic field), and weaker further out. This is something we're going to have to include in the High Frontier simulation, but we haven't yet been able to find any hard numbers about it.
If anybody can find any numbers for cosmic radiation levels at different planets (or distances from the Sun), please let us know!
Joe Strout
Lead Developer, High Frontier