Colony Worlds » Rhea

More Radiation Safe Worlds (Around Saturn)

Darnell — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:16:00 +0000

(Image: Saturn’s radiation belts, Credit: NASA / JPL / APL)

Despite the fact that planetary magnetic fields provide shelter against deadly solar radiation, they are also accompanied with radiation belts, an item some would consider a mixed blessing.

While Earth, Callisto and Titan comprise the three major radiation safe worlds (at least when it comes to raising kids), two other icy worlds–Dione and Rhea–join the list as they orbit beyond Saturn’s radiation belts (and within its magnetic field).

Hopefully as technology improves (especially when it comes to building radiation resistant habitats), Saturn’s other icy worlds will be safe enough for future colonists to establish outposts upon–without the fear of contracting cancer due to radiation exposure.

Although most of Saturn’s residents will probably raise their kids upon Titan (because of its higher gravity), Dione and Rhea will probably attract a significant population due to its access to view the stars above (not to mention Saturn as well).

Update (7/21): Fixed excel sheet embedding code.

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Carnival Of The Space Geeks (19th Edition)

Darnell — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:41:00 +0000

Last week’s Carnival of Space was hosted by Fraser Cain from Universe Today.

Although the submissions were few and far between as people were probably getting caught up with work, school or returning from glorious vacations “away from it all”.

For the few who are committed to the cause of enlightening us all, here are a sample of the few posts that were submitted:

Brian Wang from Advanced Nanotechnology has an interesting post about the Orion spacecraft refueling itself in mid-flight (note: if only Brian ran NASA).

Emily Lakdawalla via The Planetary Society Blog enlightens everyone on how you can take the various “puzzle pieces” of Rhea and put them together.

Louise Riofrio of A Babe in the Universe reports on some interesting news regarding Buzz Aldrin at the Mars Society conference (note: Fraser and I both wish we were able to attend).

Fraser Cain, the one who hosted this entire event discusses submarines for Europa (an idea Seaquest explored many moons ago).

For those of you interested in submitting articles for the next Carnival of Space, Henry Cate has the details.