Development of an Active Shielding Concept Using Electrostatic Fields

Johnson Space Center (JSC) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are jointly developing an electrostatic shielding concept to produce a significant increase to the number of safe days astronauts can be in space as well as an increased lifetime to electronic hardware. Our approach is: To reduce radiation exposure by constructing a large (compared to the shielded volume) electrostatic field, which will deflect energetic ions away from a critical volume (e.g., habitat, spacecraft, surface rover). To implement currently available state-of-the-art technologies in the shield design instrumentation (power supplies, booms, etc.). To utilize ground testing by developing an analog of a wind tunnel where scaled-down versions of the shield can be extensively tested. In this study, we will present our testing facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and the first results of a prototype 3d configuration.