The micro-spacecraft goes by the laser to explore the galaxy

The dream of traveling to the distant galaxies of humans can be realized by micro-spacecraft moving by lasers.

Shoot lasers bringing microscopic spacecraft to explore the galaxy

In order to be able to move to other planets, people carrying spacecraft need to be very high speed, which means a lot of fuel . Whether an atomic or antimatter fuel, carrying a lot of fuel makes it difficult for the spacecraft to accelerate.

Micro spacecraft moving by laser.(Artwork: Rom.ac)

Some researchers believe that this can be overcome by pushing the spacecraft through a laser . These are spacecraft moving by beams fired from Earth's orbit, without too much fuel as thrust. This idea is being developed on micro-spacecraft, while waiting for a solution for large spacecraft.

This is the idea of ​​researcher Philip Lubin, of the University of California, which is one of 15 award winning ideas of NASA's 'Innovative Ideas Ideas' project (NIAC) phase I.

Ultra-small one-gram transducers will move on a laser beam emitted from Earth's orbit , carrying small sensors to measure and report survey information. The breakthrough in energy-oriented technology allows the source of high-power laser to be miniaturized, attached to amplifiers circling the Earth, providing power to the moving probe.

If the test is successful, they will develop a larger probe. According to calculations, the largest system will have a capacity of about 50-70 gigawatts, capable of accelerating micro-spacecraft with 26% of the speed of light in 10 minutes. The ship will take over Mars in 30 minutes, catch Voyager 1 - the spacecraft moves the most far from Earth (landed on Venus and Saturn) within three days and approaches the Alpha Centauri star system (4.37 light-years from the sun) within 15 years. Larger vessels will need more time to accelerate but will greatly shorten travel time compared to current spacecraft.

To realize this idea, scientists will have to find a way to converge the exact laser beam into the micro-spacecraft, as well as find a solution to the problem of transmitting data from ships to Earth. Even so, according to experts like Les Johnson, NASA's technology engineer, the feasibility of this project is very high.