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Airlock substitute
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Armin
Mar 17, 2012, 10:19:21 AM3/17/12
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Hi,
I was wondering if we can use plasma shields like "plasma window" or
force fields instead of airlocks to let the astronaut get through them
without letting air to go out.Although can we use magnetic fields to
draw back some of lost air?
--
Armin
======================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
Moderators note: While this is way out there and very speculative, it's posed as a question and I'm willing to entertain answers that are at or near the current possible tech.
cra...@gmail.com
Mar 18, 2012, 10:05:56 PM3/18/12
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On Mar 17, 10:19 am, Armin <Armin.9aa5...@spacebanter.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> I was wondering if we can use plasma shields like "plasma window" or
> force fields instead of airlocks to let the astronaut get through them
> without letting air to go out.
Plasma is a hot, ionized gas. It is not an ideal pressure barrier, and
> Hi,
> I was wondering if we can use plasma shields like "plasma window" or
> force fields instead of airlocks to let the astronaut get through them
> without letting air to go out.
at about 1 atmosphere of pressure plasma would resemble a very high
temperature blow torch.
> Although can we use magnetic fields to
> draw back some of lost air?
fields, but it would require impractically high field strengths.
Nitrogen is diamagnetic, so it'd be weakly repelled by strong fields.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
Anvil*
May 10, 2012, 12:44:19 PM5/10/12
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Armin:
Sorry, even a few Gs of gravity won't get gas to behave.
Best option would be to use a compound turbomolecular pump and
compressor to move most of the air into a container before opening up.
This assumes an airlock that is not near Earth since the weight/value
has to be better than just bringing additional make-up air. A moon
base or Mars mission perhaps, but on manned asteroid surveys I would
say very likely.
> Although can we use magnetic fields to draw back some of lost air?
>
-----
>
Sorry, even a few Gs of gravity won't get gas to behave.
Best option would be to use a compound turbomolecular pump and
compressor to move most of the air into a container before opening up.
This assumes an airlock that is not near Earth since the weight/value
has to be better than just bringing additional make-up air. A moon
base or Mars mission perhaps, but on manned asteroid surveys I would
say very likely.
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