We have been awaiting honest-to-goodness tractor beams since Shatner was still being relaxing in the captain's chair. Now finally NASA's trading actual money money to spur the introduction of Zero Point technology.
NASA is funding studies on three specific laser-based technologies. The renowned may be the "optical tweezer" method which utilizes a hollow laserlight to maneuver small objects using air pressure variations. Issue is it requires an environment to be able to work. The Solenoid beam's proven space method pushes objects using intensity peaks that corkscrew around a central beam. Bessel beams, however, trap and transport objects inside a series intensity toughs that look like a sin wave though they haven't effectively drawn an item, only pressed.
Sure, none of those techniques can select up much or make it very far right now. However, with a few enhancements to efficiency and output, these products could eventually replace mechanical scoopers, grappling arms, and all sorts of individuals other important bits on interplanetary landers that appear to interrupt the 2nd they leave Earth's atmosphere.
Preparing tractor beams for future interplanetary exploration is a superb goal, I guess. However , Among the finest to understand where I'm able to get a Half-Existence 2-style Gravity Gun. [BBC News - Image by Thomas Harriman]
You can preserve track of Andrew Tarantola, the writer of the publish, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
No comments:
Post a Comment