Universe Today Podcast [Interview] Punching NanoHoles in Light Sails Can Bring Us Closer to Alpha Centauri
Launching Breakthrough Starshot light sail probes to Alpha Centauri requires a lot of new tech, including the actual light sails. How do you make the optimal material to maximize the size with minimising mass? Finding out in this interview.
π [Interview+] Same video. No YT ads.
https://www.patreon.com/universetoday
π£ Guest: Lucas Norder
https://www.tudelft.nl/en/staff/l.norder/
π Pentagonal photonic crystal mirrors: scalable lightsails with enhanced acceleration via neural topology optimization
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57749-y
- 00:00 Intro
- 02:11 Current state of tech
- 04:58 Nano-holes in reflective material
- 11:08 Manufacturing techniques
- 14:23 Practical applications
- 20:58 Possible prototypes
- 25:57 Current obsessions
- 30:21 Final thoughts
πΊ VIDEO VERSION
https://youtu.be/iHLm9oHMsyM
π° GUIDE TO SPACE Newsletter
No ads. Subscribe for FREE: https://universetoday.com/newsletter
π§ PODCASTS
Universe Today: https://universetoday.fireside.fm/
Astronomy Cast: http://www.astronomycast.com/
π© CONTACT FRASER
frasercain@gmail.com
βοΈ LICENSE
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)