Astronauts are one step closer to travelling to Mars now that scientists have discovered a way to protect spacecraft from solar storms.

A manned mission to Mars could be possible for the very first time as scientists believe they have found a way to shield spacecraft from the solar storms prevalent in space.

Following extensive research, experts believe a giant ‘magnetic bubble’ could be used to protect spacecraft on their journey to the Red Planet – shielding astronauts from the harmful effects of radiation.

The shield will scatter highly charged, ionised particles of solar wind and solar flares, working in the same way as the Earth’s own magnetosphere which protects the planet from the deadly radiation of cosmic rays.

Such protection has never been used before as journeys to the Moon – the only human missions to have ventured past the Earth’s magnetosphere – take around eight days, meaning the likelihood of encountering solar storms is not as high. 

A mission to Mars could take up to 18 months, during which time “it is almost certain that astronauts would be enveloped by such a storm”, experts said.

The discovery of the ‘force field’ technology is based on 50 years of research, and is a collaboration between researchers at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Universities of York and Strathclyde, and the IST Lisbon.

Scientists originally thought it would be impractical to create a magnetic bubble big enough to protect spaceships as initial research suggested it would need to be 100km in width.

Experts now believe a much smaller bubble of only several hundred meters across would provide enough protection.

Dr. Ruth Bamford, one of the lead researchers at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, said: “These initial experiments have shown promise and that it may be possible to shield astronauts from deadly space weather.”

By Natasha Piscitelli