What can astronauts do to protect themselves from radiation in space?

What can astronauts do to protect themselves from radiation in space?

Protecting astronauts from cosmic radiation during long space missions-a trip to Mars for example - would require a shield of matter with a density of around 1 kg/sq cm, which would involve something like a 10-m-thick layer of water. The enormous weight of such a shield would vastly increase the costs of a mission to Mars, which is why space travel experts are searching for alternatives. It may be possible to produce an extremely strong magnetic field to act as a shield, but the strengths required would call for the installation of superconducting electromagnets aboard spacecraft.