from the sailing-sailing-through-the-deep-black dept.
Coin-sized pieces of graphene can be accelerated by firing low-powered lasers at them in micro-gravity conditions, say scientists. The technology could be a stepping stone to graphene solar sails, which could propel future spacecraft using starlight or a laser array.
The material was developed at SCALE Nanotech, a startup in Estonia and Germany, with the support of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The project, backed by the European Space Agency, is experimenting with graphene to develop prototype light sails.
"Light sailing is the only existing in-space propulsion technology that could allow us to visit other star systems in a human lifespan," the scientists stated in a paper, published in Acta Astronautica. "In order to best harness radiation pressure, light sails need to be highly reflective, lightweight and mechanically robust."
To make these sails, the team crafted an atomically thin 2D film punctured with tiny holes, and covered it with a layer of graphene. Next, they traveled to the ZARM drop tower, a laboratory at the University of Bremen, Germany, that uses a 146-metre steel tube to simulate micro-gravity conditions to test their graphene coins. When the material was dropped inside and floating effectively weightlessly, it was accelerated 1 m/s2 by zapping it with a 1W laser. The photons in the laser light exerted a pressure on the material causing it to move faster and faster.
[...] Santiago Cartamil-Bueno, coauthor of the paper and the leader of the GrapheneSail team at Scale Nanotech, believes "graphene is part of the solution" to developing practical light sails.
Journal Reference:
Rocco Gaudenzia, Davide Stefaniam, Santiago Jose Cartamil-Buenob. "Light-induced propulsion of graphene-on-grid sails in microgravity", Acta Astronautica (DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.03.030)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2020, @11:47PM (5 children)
OK, let's say we send a tiny silicon chip on a solar sail to Alpha Centauri. How does it send data back so we know it got there?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Kitsune008 on Tuesday May 12 2020, @12:50AM
You can bet their cellphone and wifi coverage is out of this world. ;-)
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday May 12 2020, @12:56AM (1 child)
https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/challenges/3 [breakthroughinitiatives.org]
https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/forum/13?page=4 [breakthroughinitiatives.org]
Highly directional laser communication, might be detectable if you know exactly where it is/was.
Also, you can demonstrate these technologies on a smaller scale by aiming them at targets within the solar system instead of star systems light years away.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 13 2020, @10:50PM
Maybe they can have a system of laser repeaters placed along the way.
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday May 12 2020, @02:50AM
Well, you send survivable DNA seed (coronavirus encoded?) and wait till it develops into an advance civilization that would send something back. Should take almost nothing - just a few millennia.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2020, @11:49AM
5G, you silly.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2020, @12:11AM (3 children)
The title is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_in_rain_monologue [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday May 12 2020, @12:50AM (1 child)
There was a DS9 episode [wikipedia.org] involving a solar sail craft.
So in the series finale Sisko proceeds to ditch Jake and everybody else out of the blue. Thanks dad!
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Tuesday May 12 2020, @04:23PM
You should put a spoiler tag, just as I fail to do here.
Sisko's motivation for what he does in the final episode is due to an internal motivation to become a religious figure in order to mimic B5 as much as possible.
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?
(Score: 3, Touché) by captain normal on Tuesday May 12 2020, @04:22AM
Hell I remember reading about photon powered sail starships in Sci Fi stories and novels 60 years ago So I've seen them way before Blade Runner. Now,"get off my lawn".
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2020, @12:12AM (3 children)
And what happens after you launch it and realize the control computer runs Linux and crashes into Jupiter because of systemd?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 12 2020, @12:46AM
Systemd runs up Uranus, not Jupiter.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Kitsune008 on Tuesday May 12 2020, @12:59AM (1 child)
Does it scale up, you ask?
Imagine a Beowolf cluster of Beowolf clusters of these...
As for what happens when it crashes blah blah blah systemd?
Fork it, obviously.
RTFM, n00b. ;-)
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday May 12 2020, @04:26AM
Wow, this guy is UID over 9K. So auto upmod.
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2020, @12:32AM (1 child)
And post some quality aristachu posts.
COVID-19!
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2020, @02:41AM
You know, I scratch yo back, you me.
BTW, not gay, not that there is anything wrong with it.
BTW, RIP Stiller.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2020, @01:28AM
See subject: I'm so sick & tired of SoylentNews BULLIES just like the /. & ArSeHoleTechnica bullies. You SHITWEASELS have nothing better to do than HARASS, STALK & IMPERSONATE little ol' me. I've done absolutely NOTHING wrong & just try to make everyone's lives better w/ my work that stops ads & malware. You ABUSE your spamdownmodpoints to HIDE the TRUTH that you WORTHLESS DO-NOTHING FORUM FUCKS have SOLD YOUR SOULS to a shitposting tranny SPAMMER who contributes NOTHING useful ever. I am God's gift to SoylentNews & the ONLY person doing ANYTHING useful on this SHITHOLE forum.
* As soon as I post, I'm CENSORED to -1 w/ ABUSED spamdownmodpoints by FAKENAME bullies like The Mighty Buzzard, Runaway1956, Azuma Hazuki & Tom "Barbara" Hudson. I caught c6gunner mocking then IMPERSONATING me on /. when he forgot to log out. Zontar The Mindless mailed me a postcard w/ THREATS on it, then LIES & STALKS me. All because you JEALOUS JOWIE "ne'er-do-wells" KNOW I'm World-Class & you're shit. It's why you hide behind FAKE names & UNIDENTIFIABLE ANONYMOUS.
I caught Tom "Barbara" Hudson IMPERSONATING me too. The OLD NOT-MAN soyboy weezil is JUDEN TRASH & circumcised EVERYTHING to become a EUNUCH. The THING knows nothing about computers so IT LIES about me instead. This is one sick in the head IDLE HANDS ARE THE DEVIL'S WORKSHOP abomination, no questions asked. You wish you were me & that's why you IMPERSONATE & ATTACK me.
I'm even improving my already GREAT PHYSIQUE & SUPERIOR INTELLECT while you weezils & soyboys sit around all day on SoylentNews STALKING & HARASSING your BETTERS. I repeatedly dust the no-mind bullshit blatherings you BULLIES post to attack me. Like always I WIN & YOU LOSE. That's why you keep spamdownmod HIDING my posts & STALKING me w/ FAKENAME accounts. You CAN'T stop me any better than whipslash @ /. & he knows I could STOP HIS SERVER whenever I want. Martyb KNOWS he CAN'T DO BETTER than I w/ APK Hosts File Engine instead of some TOY website based on someone else's ABANDONED & BROKEN code from another site FULL of "ne'er-do-well" fakename forum fucks.
Now I have the PILL-PUSHING SELF-PROCLAIMED "SiDeWaLk-ShRiNk of SOYLENTNEWS" LIBELING me & saying I'm MENTALLY ILL. ALL of you SHITWEASELS are mentally ill & can't stop BULLYING me because you WISH YOU WERE ME. PROVE you've done better than I. You can't & you know it so BULLYING & LIBELING is all YOUR KIND has left.
You WEEZILS can't stop me & YOU KNOW IT so you don't even try to put in a "LaMeNeSs FiLtEr" like whipslash tried & FAILED at. I hope this SHITHOLE bans AC posting like the shitweasels at /. did because they KNEW they couldn't do better than I after CENSORING & BULLYING me. I WIN @ everything & you LAZY "ne'er-do-wells" fail & EMBARRASS yourselves @ everything. You WISH you were me but you know you CAN'T do what I've done so you IMPERSONATE me & BULLY me instead. You LOSERS need to SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP.
I WILL return in TWO WEEKENDS & post about MY WORK in EVERY SINGLE article that weekend to PROVE how much you DO-NOTHING FAILURES LOSE against me. I've accomplished more then EVERY SINGLE ONE of you FAKENAME FORUM FUCKS & I WILL prove it once again. Your BULLYING will PERMANENTLY STOP once I show how INFERIOR you shitweasels truly are against a REAL MAN like me.
APK
P.S.=> This BULLYING of me is SO UNFAIR & I've done nothing to deserve it from you people. I'm tired of CASTING PEARLS before SWINE with my work that you CAN'T do better than. GROW UP... apk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2020, @06:49AM (1 child)
That's why I had to juice this one up so mcuh - enjoy!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 12 2020, @04:28PM
But isn't ClickBait == Headlines?
Synonyms?
Or more precisely: ClickBait.equals( Headlines )
Is there a chemotherapy treatment for excessively low blood alcohol level?