Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Heretic
The problem is how to engineer a living organism that has enough metabolic energy to cross between stars without dying from radiation in space nor killing itself with all that energy. Plus, an organism's migrational instincts [so required for the purposes of navigation and astrogation] need to be far more accurate than anything seen now. These two threshholds, energy and precision, are the limiting factors for exosolar spaceflight.
Some organisms, even one type of animal, can handle the rough environment of hard vacuum and unfiltered solar radiation, but they have to be metabolically inactive to do so. The reason is cell division amid that much radiation lends itself to mutations, cancer and tissue breakdown from radiation burns when severe enough. An organism bred for spaceflight would have to have radically different chemistry.
|
Yeah, radiation would be a problem unless it could absorb its energy in some way. Some animals have an ability to generate magnetic and electric fields. In this case it would be necessary to divert radiation and possibly traverse space. Like Dr. Winglee proposed,
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast04oct_1.htm and
http://www.ess.washington.edu/Space/M2P2/theory.html
It could have a shell, think that they are finding .....
Quote:
Polyethylene is a good shielding material because it has high hydrogen content, and hydrogen atoms are good at absorbing and dispersing radiation. In fact, researchers have been studying the use of polyethylene as a shielding material for some time. One of several novel material developments that the team is testing is reinforced polyethylene. Raj Kaul, a scientist in the Marshall Center's Engineering Directorate, previously has worked with this material on protective armor for helicopters.
"Since it is a ballistic shield, it also deflects micrometeorites," Kaul says. "Since it's a fabric, it can be draped around molds and shaped into specific spacecraft components."
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/tra...shielding.html
|
Think it is more a problem of evolution, space is kind of hostile environment for an evolutionary process to occur, as you said life can survive in a dormant state......