Shields Every once in a while, I read something about a UAP which was shot down. If any of these articles are correct, it would mean we either have the capability to shoot down at least some types of UAPs, or we caught some unaware and they didn’t have enough time to put up their defenses. There are so many stories where there has been failed attempts at shooting down UAPs in the past, it makes me wonder if any of these stories about shooting them down could be true. On the other hand, there is some evidence that UAPs do get shot down from time to time, but it doesn’t seem like it was accomplished by us. While scientists have been working on theoretical plasma shields and such to protect our spacecraft from meteor strikes and even alien weapons, we don’t seem to have gotten very far. Of course, we don’t get all the information, so even if we succeeded in developing a shield, it may not be common knowledge. It could turn out the shield might be the result of all the material research going on right now. It just so happens a little known announcement was made about two years ago and it has to do with a new material. A material was found which protected far better than steel or Kevlar at stopping projectiles. The research was conducted by the U.S. Army’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. It was in partnership with Caltech and ETH Zurich. Most of the research was aimed at the individual soldier and also the weight he has to carry. This material is much lighter than what is protecting that soldier now and the protection is much better. It might turn out the research to protect soldiers might also discover something which could protect an entire plane or spacecraft. I think many of us know astronauts are vulnerable to radiation when they go into space. NASA has known this for years and even astronauts on the space station receive a lot more radiation there than we do naturally on earth. While NASA thinks this is safe, I have to wonder what the long term effects on some people might be. When it comes to shields to protect against radiation, there are many different things to be considered. One is weight. We know if we had a thick enough sheet of lead it could protect us, but the weight makes it impractical for space ships and space stations. We also have to consider the fact lead exposure is not a good thing. We also have to decide how we want our shield to work. Should it deflect, absorb or destroy the radiation hitting it? Should the shield be made from material or should it be some sort of plasma or electronic shield, or something else? One place which is searching for an answer to this problem is the NASA Office of Biological and Physical Research. Today, most spacecraft are built from aluminum and NASA is looking into materials which not only reduce the radiation entering the ship but which is lighter than aluminum, making the shield material more practical. Another NASA shielding research program is taking place at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. One of the shielding materials to disperse radiation, which is being examined is polyethylene. The reason it is being studied is the fact it is high in hydrogen. Hydrogen atoms are good at absorbing and dispersing radiation. They have even found a way of reinforcing it and it has been used as armor on helicopters. Using this on spacecraft could serve a double purpose, radiation protection and protection from micrometeorites. There is also a Space Radiation Health Project at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It pulls together scientists nation wide at different universities and medical centers. They are researching what damage radiation does to our cells, eyes, brain and organs. The purpose of the project is to find medical treatments for radiation poisoning which are more effective. Plasma shields have been researched for years as a defense against radiation. Some scientists have even dreamed about perfecting one which would also protect against weapons. When used in space as a defense against radiation, if perfected, it would not leak into space because it has no air molecules to absorb heat. It has even been said if a plasma shield could be perfected it could protect against a missile. The problem is we have been looking into this for decades. Scientists have been experimenting with both hot and cold plasma. One very interesting concept to protect astronauts from radiation is imitating the earth. The earth’s magnetic shield protects us from radiation and there are scientists suggesting we could protect a spacecraft with superconducting magnets which would do for the ship what the earth’s magnetic field does for us. Could this concept also apply to individual astronauts? I have no answer to this question, but if it could somehow work for them, this would be a great way to protect colonies, such as the Mars colony we are planning and even a moon colony. Another type of shield is being worked on. It is said to already exist and is a shield nicknamed PASS. This stands for Plasma Acoustic Shield System. It uses lasers to put up a shield of light up to 100 meters away. The shield is a wall of light and the system was built by Redmond with funding from the Pentagon’s Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate. One of the hopes for it is to make it capable of absorbing laser and microwave blasts. It is said to be similar to lightning in that it can produce blasts. Here is a short description of how it works. A laser produces a small plasma cloud and almost immediately a second laser pulse hits that cloud and the cloud expands very fast, and creates a supersonic shock wave, and even a bigger blast. An entire wall is built of these blasts. There was a plan by the Navy twenty years ago to use something like this to deflect missiles, but it failed. Maybe we have advanced enough where we could use it for this too.
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