Radiation Shielding

[Moontanman]

I doubt you will get a magnetic field of sufficient strength out of a thin layer of anything except maybe a superconductor. While gold and silver are good conductors there are limits to the current they can carry in any size wire or coating. Electric charges and magnetic fields are good ideas but the engineering is not as simple as running a current through a thin coating of metal. Electric currents produce heat, the stronger the current or the thinner the conductor the more heat will be a problem, getting rid of heat in space requires lots of surface area and that means more weight. It's a losing proposition...

[Turtle]

I doubt you will get a magnetic field of sufficient strength out of a thin layer of anything except maybe a superconductor. While gold and silver are good conductors there are limits to the current they can carry in any size wire or coating. Electric charges and magnetic fields are good ideas but the engineering is not as simple as running a current through a thin coating of metal. Electric currents produce heat, the stronger the current or the thinner the conductor the more heat will be a problem, getting rid of heat in space requires lots of surface area and that means more weight. It's a losing proposition...

 

I think the thin layer scheme Sunshaker has in mind relies on electrostatics, not magnetics. Whatever schema is adopted, whether it's solid mass, magnetic, electrostatic, or some hybrid is going to add weight and expense. Hell, just trying to come up with something is costing money and we haven't even left yet. While we are losing for now, we are a clever species and we may yet solve the problems...or die trying.