Abstract
A magnetized plasma sphere generated by a rotating magnetic field (RMF) technique has been proposed as an effective shield for innovative space transportation systems, such as a space elevator, from energetic particle radiation found in the Van Allen radiation belts, for example. In the proposed system, the RMF field drives electron ring current inside and outside of the antenna. Then, the generated ring current forms a magnetic sphere which acts as a plasma shield. In this work, generation of electron ring current by RMF has been evaluated numerically. The shielding effect of the generated magnetized plasma sphere has been demonstrated numerically with a simple ring current model. The results showed a combination of azimuthal drift motion of and radial Lorenz force on energetic charged particles. Also, an experimental study has been initiated. The developed IGBT invertor system and a RMF antenna set are also briefly introduced. As an initial experimental work, plasma formation has been attempted in a vacuum tank by using scale models of RMF antenna sets.
