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Tiny 'metajets' could use light to steer sails for interstellar travel
Key takeaways
- Minuscule silicon wafers propelled by lasers could be used to steer light sails, helping them travel beyond the solar system
- Interstellar travel propelled by light just got one step closer.
- “We knew already that any light or laser can impart momentum transfer, but now we can control the direction as well,” says Kaushik Kudtarkar at Texas A&M University.
Why this matters: new research or scientific developments with potential real-world impact.
Minuscule silicon wafers propelled by lasers could be used to steer light sails, helping them travel beyond the solar system
Twitter / X icon Linkedin Reddit Email. An artist s impression of a light sail
Interstellar travel propelled by light just got one step closer. Light sails, which are huge sheets pushed along by light that bounces off of them, may be the best way to travel enormous distances through space, and now we may have a way to steer them.
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