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Shields are failing captain

Those of us who enjoy the SciFi genre will be familiar with the concept of shielding your vessel against enemy weapons or even something as natural as an asteroid or solar flare.

Although none of the most popular science fiction franchises, such as Star Trek, have explained exactly how this shielding works, we know that the early stuff involved polarising the hull plating -- or something.

Without shields, Kirk, Piccard, Janeway and all the others would have been unlikely to last a few hours in the hostile environs of deep space -- and the planet earth is in a similar position.

Fortunately for us, Earth has its own defensive shield which is implemented by way of a huge magnetic field.

Without this magnetic field, chances are that life as we know it, would never have evolved and this planet would be much the same as Mars -- a desolate sphere of rock with only a wispy atmosphere.

The magnetic field that surrounds us provides essential protection from the effects of the solar wind that constantly blasts the planet. Without this field, charged particles from the sun would have stripped away most of the air we now breathe and the planet's surface would be subjected to high levels of radiation.

So I guess it's "lucky old us".

With the effect of Earth's magnetic field so critical to our survival very much in mind, NASA has just launched a new Mars-bound craft called the Maven and its role is to analyze the red planet's remaining atmosphere in an attempt to better understand exactly why it has been ablated by the solar wind.

If we can discover exactly how this process occurred then we may be better able to anticipate and mitigate the same process -- should our own magnetic field ever collapse.

Our magnetic field is thought to be a function of the spinning molten iron core that sits at the centre of the planet -- but scientists say there is still much they do not fully understand and can not categorically assure us that one day that field will not disappear forever.

So "the end of the world" may not be due to a massive comet or asteroid impact. It may not be down to invading aliens. It may not be a result of uncontrolled climate change.

"The end of the world" could come from something as simple as nature turning off the planet's defensive shield, leaving us choking for air and bathed in lethal levels of ionizing radiation.

Fortunately for us, the chances of such an event are extremely low -- just like your chances of winning lotto :-)

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