The Phys.org article NASA proposes a magnetic shield to protect Mars' atmosphere says:
...Dr. Jim Green – the Director of NASA's Planetary Science Division – and a panel of researchers presented an ambitious idea. In essence, they suggested that by positioning a magnetic dipole shield at the Mars L1 Lagrange Point, an artificial magnetosphere could be formed that would encompass the entire planet, thus shielding it from solar wind and radiation.
Naturally, Green and his colleagues acknowledged that the idea might sounds a bit "fanciful". However, they were quick to emphasize how new research into miniature magnetospheres (for the sake of protecting crews and spacecraft) supports this concept:
above: "The proposed method for creating an artificial magnetic dipole at Mars’ L1 Lagrange Point." Credit: NASA/J.Green From here.
"This new research is coming about due to the application of full plasma physics codes and laboratory experiments. In the future it is quite possible that an inflatable structure(s) can generate a magnetic dipole field at a level of perhaps 1 or 2 Tesla (or 10,000 to 20,000 Gauss) as an active shield against the solar wind."
In addition, the positioning of this magnetic shield would ensure that the two regions where most of Mars' atmosphere is lost would be shielded. In the course of the presentation, Green and the panel indicated that these the major escape channels are located, "over the northern polar cap involving higher energy ionospheric material, and 2) in the equatorial zone involving a seasonal low energy component with as much as 0.1 kg/s escape of oxygen ions."
While using an artificial magnetosphere to preserve the atmosphere of a terraformed Mars may not be completely necessary, I think the intellectual exercise described in the article still has substantial merit, both for protecting smaller volumes (e.g. spacecraft, space stations, etc.) and perhaps even the Earth should the Sun ever find itself in a bad mood.
Question: Is there anything I could read further about NASA's (or anyone else's) interest or research into artificial mini-magnetosphere's for protection of crewed spacecraft or space stations against radiation?
Another side benefit of the exercise is the insight gained in magnetohydrodynamics itself:
To test this idea, the research team – which included scientists from Ames Research Center, the Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Colorado, Princeton University, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory – conducted a series of simulations using their proposed artificial magnetosphere. These were run at the Coordinated Community Modeling Center (CCMC), which specializes in space weather research, to see what the net effect would be.
