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Gamma-ray shielding against bursters
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(11-13-2016, 05:29 AM)Rynn Wrote: Thinking about the crashcache back up, how deep do you think something could be safely floated in a gas giant with OA tech? Obvious follow up being is said depth enough protection against GRBs?

Earth's atmosphere is pretty good at stopping the gamma rays from a burster. Further, the primary effect is to crash the ozone layer, not flash-fry the surface with lethal rads.

I'm not sure how a gas giant's hydrogen-helium atmosphere compares, but since enough mass should block energetic photons like anything else I'd guess those gases are on par with Earth for a given areal mass of atmosphere. Of course, a hydrogen-helium atmosphere has about 1/10th the molecular mass of Earth's atmosphere.

Therefore, somewhere in the vicinity of 5 to 10 atmospheres pressure in a gas giant should provide adequate shielding. On some gas giants, that's a quite comfortable level for humans. Bubblehabs, never mind crashcaches, would be fine.
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
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"Everbody's always in favor of saving Hitler's brain, but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, oh, suddenly you've gone too far." -- Professor Farnsworth, Futurama
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RE: Gamm-ray shielding against bursters - by Rynn - 11-11-2016, 06:20 AM
RE: Gamma-ray shielding against bursters - by Cray - 11-15-2016, 12:45 AM

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