Can Hydrogen-Based Plastic Provide Better Radiation Protection than Lead?

[entrance]

Some days ago, i read, that there is a plastic, that should be capable of protecting from interstellar radiation.

I would be interested in further information about this plastic. Someone here who has some material, i could take a look at?

 

[BvU]

Hello entrance,

Do you have a reference (where did you read it) ?

 

[berkeman]

Some days ago, i read, that there is a plastic, that should be capable of protecting from interstellar radiation.

I would be interested in further information about this plastic. Someone here who has some material, i could take a look at?

A quick Google search turned up this: http://www.space.com/21561-space-exploration-radiation-protection-plastic.html

 

[BvU]

Thanks, Berk! There is a substantial amount of information in Cary Zeitlin's 2013 article in 'Space Weather' . LRO seems to be in operation still, but I haven't found an update on the radiation shielding.

 

[Vanadium 50]

The key phrase is "pound for pound". The reason people like lead is that it puts a lot of pounds in a small space. But hydrogen is, pound for pound, the best shielding you can get. The problem is you need a depth more than 1000x great as thick as lead to get the same shielding.