Faster space ships for less money, it's what we do.
foxnews.com/science/scientists-have-found-a-way-to-levitate-objects-with-light
California scientists think they’ve found a way to make objects levitate using concentrated light — a theory that could even propel spacecraft farther than they’ve ever traveled before, according to a report.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology believe that by covering the surfaces of objects with microscopic nanoscale patterns specially designed to interact with beams of light, they could be propelled without fuel — and potentially by light sources millions of miles away, according to Phys.org.
Also at Phys.org
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Scientists Have Found a Way to Levitate Objects With Light
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Sunday March 24 2019, @05:03PM (2 children)
From vague memories of such things, I believe they would also need to engineer in a dampening torque somehow. Otherwise, assuming a point source of light in the frictionless realm of space, once the object was perturbed off-center it would just start a rather permanent oscillation :-p
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 24 2019, @06:24PM
A massive spinning disc would reduce the change in angular velocity caused by a given torque.
Could a lens be used to center the beam?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 24 2019, @10:08PM
They have plenty of ways to do that such as gyroscopes, moving the light beam, and moving the mirror on the spacecraft.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday March 24 2019, @05:32PM (3 children)
Levitate implies it could counteract 9.8 m/s2 within the atmosphere, allowing an object to hover. Perhaps possible for microscopic objects, but meter-scale?
Meter-scale could refer to something that would already be in space, like the Breakthrough Starshot lightsail that might have an area of 16 m2. Does this nanoscale covering solve the problem of gigawatt-class lasers melting the StarChip?
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by fyngyrz on Sunday March 24 2019, @07:30PM
Consider that a blimp can float within the atmosphere due to being lighter than the volume of atmosphere it displaces without any assist at all.
So a meter-scale (and quite a bit larger) object with some blimp-ish assist could receive the last bit of impetus needed to hover or increase in altitude from the provided acceleration, presuming of course that such a light-based methodology actually works.
That won't help it get out of the atmosphere of course, as the equivalent volume of atmosphere will eventually become lighter than the blimp, and so the amount of lift provided by that effect will trend down to equilibrium and no more lift will be provided.
--
Any pizza can be a personal pizza if you believe in yourself.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 24 2019, @10:14PM (1 child)
I assume the idea is that the covering would reflect light so perfectly that the spacecraft could handle the residual heat load. For example, if you're reflecting a GW of laser for only 100kW of heating (for example, I don't know what the reflectivity actually is), that is something that might be physically possible to do indefinitely.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday March 24 2019, @10:36PM
The estimate has been 20+ years of R&D (from today) to invent the relevant technologies needed to launch StarChips at a significant fraction of c. The California Institute of Technology text does not mention the reflectivity and says "There is an audaciously interesting application to use this technique as a means for propulsion of a new generation of spacecraft. We're a long way from actually doing that, but we are in the process of testing out the principles."
This is more interesting:
Improve lithography/yields/cost, make faster computers that will be used to run material simulations, etc. that could ultimately benefit Breakthrough Starshot.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 24 2019, @06:27PM
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/LL.pdf [harvard.edu]
They're probably not, but it's a good idea for scifi.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 24 2019, @09:10PM (1 child)
So you need to use special adjustments when analyzing any research from the state. The best way to do this is to apply ",man" at the end of their conclusions and see how it sounds. For example: "We can make objects levitate with concentrated light, man"...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 24 2019, @09:31PM
I was under the impression drugs were legal everywhere in the USA.
Best adjust everything coming out of the states by beating your SO after reading it.