Magnetic shield for spacefarers

First of all, sorry for the short opening post


I've been reading this BBC news article. Basically it says

Future astronauts could benefit from a magnetic "umbrella" that deflects harmful space radiation around their crew capsule, scientists say.

BBC News


So, my question is ....... how did we get to the moon in the 60's !

If they have just managed to develop something which can prevent the astronauts being killed by radiation .... what about the Van Allen radiation belt which apollo travelled through to get to the moon.

reply to post by scepticsRus



They went though the van allen belts at the weakest point they could and they were in the belts for only a very small time, thereby reducing the effects of the radiation. Good find on the article, although the moon bit seems irrelevent in it, it might be useful for trips to mars

They shielded themselves with gold plated tinfoil, and wore tinfoil hats and codpieces.


I do not believe they snuck around the radiation in space, As I recall the Sun radiates in every direction. Very harsh stuff that space radiation.

Sunlight in space is 100 times more powerful than on the earth, and that does not include the Alpha, Beta and Gama radiation, which are the killers.

As cold as space is, the big problem is radiating away heat, not staying warm.
Which reminds me of one of my favorite but poorly devised works of fiction. In one of the Apollo adventures where our heros defied death in a spectacular rescue completed via American Enginuity; they powered off the heaters and suffered from the cold of space to conserve electricity in a desperate attempt to get back home. Would they freeze to death before they could fire the engines manually? Would they be in a state of hypothermia and unable to move the switch?

In truth they would have been roasting?