FUTURE astronauts could use asteroid clay as a radiation shield.
Cosmic radiation presents a major health risk for astronauts travelling into deep space to set up colonies on the moon or Mars. But the heavy aluminium shields currently used on short missions would be too expensive to ship.
For a long-term presence on other worlds, we will need to use materials found in space, says Daniel Britt at the University of Central Florida. He says asteroids could provide that material.
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Clays in asteroids are rich in hydrogen, making them up to 10 per cent better than aluminium at blocking harmful rays (Advances in Space Research, ). But it is still not clear how they would be extracted.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淎steroid clay could block radiation鈥�