How a Tiny Magnet Could Produce a Force Field Big Enough To Protect a Space Ship

While many hurdles are keeping us stuck here on Earth, our solar system's deadly radiation is chief among them. But scientists now think that a thumb-sized magnet could produce a force field big enough to shield an entire spaceship.

The big fiery ball we call our Sun is constantly shooting high-energy particles out into the solar system, a solar wind that yields radiation some 1000 times more powerful than that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Earth's magnetosphere, produced by our planet's molten iron core, deflects the solar wind from our rock and protects our bodies from that radiation.