Thanks ETL.
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Posted on 03/21/2019 8:56:53 AM PDT by ETL
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.
The findings, first detailed in the online science journal Nature Photonics, already have scientists salivating over the potentially out-of-this-world applications. One could be the development of a spacecraft that could reach the nearest planet outside our solar system in just 20 years. By contrast, it took the Voyager space probe some 26 years to leave our own solar system.
“There is an audaciously interesting application to use this technique as a means for propulsion of a new generation of spacecraft,” said professor Harry Atwater, whose lab was the playground for the US Air Force-funded study. “We’re a long way from actually doing that, but we are in the process of testing out the principles.”
Because the concept would remove the need for onboard fuel, spacecraft could travel lighter, faster and farther than ever before, according to Phys.org.
Back on Earth, the technology could speed up manufacturing of small objects, such as circuit boards, Atwater told the site.
The idea is, in essence, a larger-scale application of decades-old “optical tweezers,” which use the pressure from focused beams of light to move small objects short distances, according to the report.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Only a true Trekker knows what that is and how it was used.
Wherever you go, there you are! (Buckeroo Banzai)
“Bonzai”
Light sails were discussed in SciFi way back in the 50’s and 60’s, as were laser propelled space craft in the 70’s.
May be exciting, but it is not new.
That’s easy. Turn the light on at 2 am on someone who’s sleeping and watch them levitate.
Of the neutron flow.
I’m never invited anywhere.
Thanks ETL.
So? When you come back , mother in law is already an archaeological fossil.
Mortgage company and every sports fan and player gone.
Rap gone.
Ice Age is over.
No Bruce Springsteen ...or Neil Diamond.
Nirvana
Keith Richards will be there smoking a cigarette to greet you.
It’s no wonder, look at who you associate with!
I’d just assume to be left alone anyhow.
This is why I do an eye-roll when the argument "There can't be aliens visiting us because . . ." arises.
We don't know what is around the next scientific corner and just because humans haven't invented something, doesn't mean someone/something else hasn't either.
I remember reading that scientists in the 1890s said people couldn't travel faster than 60 mph as they would suffocate. In Gen. Grant's biography, he said, as a young man taking his first trip on a train going 35 mph, "We have annihilated space!".
I’ll drink to that.
Invented by doctors Massey and Ferguson working on the Case at an International level.
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