Texas A&M Advances Light-Powered Propulsion for Space Travel
Researchers at Texas A&M University have developed metajets that can be steered using lasers, potentially enabling interstellar travel. This innovation could reduce the time to reach Alpha Centauri from hundreds of thousands of years to about 20 years, revolutionizing propulsion technology.
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Texas A&M University researchers have demonstrated the use of lasers to maneuver micron-scale devices known as 'metajets' in three dimensions. This optical propulsion breakthrough, detailed in the journal Newton, utilizes metasurfaces to control light behavior for propulsion.
The metajets can potentially enable travel to Alpha Centauri within approximately 20 years, contrasting with current propulsion technologies that would take hundreds of thousands of years. The study indicates that the force generated by the metajets depends on light power, suggesting scalability to larger systems.
The devices were developed at the Texas A&M AggieFab facility, with plans for further testing in microgravity environments to explore light-driven propulsion without gravity's interference. The findings may lead to advancements in controlling both microscopic and larger objects using light, eliminating the need for traditional fuel.
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