So I'm reading about this new 'deflector shield' thing being developed by Ruth Bamford of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130424-quest-to-create-deflector-shields) to protect atronauts from solar wind in spaceships. It's supposed to be far smaller than what was previously possible and it got me thinking...could a bigger version be used to provide an artifial magnetosphere to mars so we could protect it from solar winds and check that off the list of things to do to terraform it?

I'm just a sci-fi fan, no background in any of this stuff so forgive me if I just asked a stupid question :)