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Last updated on March 20, 2019 9:26
This means that no fuel is needed – just a powerful laser fired at a spacecraft from Earth.
(Web Desk) – Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have said they have found a new way to levitate and propel objects using only light – although, for the time being, the work remains theoretical.
They expressed the hope that this technique could be used for "ultralight spacecraft trajectory control and even laser-propelled sails for space exploration", according to an article published in Monday's Nature Photonics.
This means that no fuel is needed, but a powerful laser fired by a spacecraft from Earth.
Caltech scientists have developed the so-called "photonic levitation and propulsion" system by designing a complex pattern that can be etched on the surface of the object.
The way the concentrated light beam reflected by the etching causes the "autonomous stabilization" of the object, they said, while he was trying to stay inside the focused laser beam.
The first advance that laid the foundation for this new research was the development of "optical tweezers", scientific instruments using a powerful laser beam to attract or repel microscopic objects.
The big disadvantage: they can only handle tiny objects at microscopic distances.
Ognjen Ilic, postdoctoral researcher and first author of the new study, summarizes in much simpler terms the concept of tweezers: "One can levitate a ping-pong ball using a constant stream of air coming from Hair dryer, "he said a statement.
"But it would not work if the ping-pong ball was too big or too far from the hair dryer, etc."
In their article, Caltech researchers claim that their manipulation of light could theoretically work with an object of any size, from micrometers to the size of a spaceship.
Although the theory has not yet been tested in the real world, researchers say that if it were to be panned, it could send a spaceship to the nearest star outside our solar system in just 20 years .
"There is a daringly interesting application to use this technique as a means of propelling a new generation of spacecraft," said Harry Atwater, professor at Caltech's Engineering and Applied Science Division. .
"We are far from that, but we are testing the principles."
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