I have just re-joined this mailing list. When the recent funding for
development of the M2P2 system was announced, it was probably widely
discussed here. For people who don't know what it is, the idea is to develop
a device "the size of a pickle jar" which can create a gigantic magnetic
field, which will hold in place a large amount of plasma, and will act as a
solar sail. A story can be found here:
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9908/17/space.m2p2.reut/
I was having an idea about using the same system for radiation protection on
the moon, or mars. Each settlement, or vehicle, could have an M2P2 system on
top of it, which, when will turn on when triggered by an abnormally high
amount of radiation, and will create a magnetic-plasma field around the
vehicle/settlement. Is this idea, or any variation therof, feasible? And
would the system be more damaging to humans then the radiation it is trying
to deflect?