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Does the technology exist which could accelerate a nanoship to "one-fifth the speed of light", or perhaps more importantly, course-correct and slow it down as i
by astebbin 10y ago
Does the technology exist which could accelerate a nanoship to "one-fifth the speed of light", or perhaps more importantly, course-correct and slow it down as it nears its destination?
- ohazi 10y agoFirst thing that came to mind were "spaceships" such as gliders (c/4) and lightweight spaceships (c/2) in Conway's Game of Life. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_(cellular_automaton) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_(cellular_automaton)
- dekhn 10y agothere is a theoretical (never tested) nuclear powered propulsion design (project orion) but it looks like the point with this is to keep mass as small as possible, so that high-powered lasers can provide propulsion.
- Thorondor 10y agoNot yet, but Breakthrough Starshot is working on it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot The numbers they are putting out are probably more than a little on the optimistic side, but the project is definitely a serious attempt and I'd love to see it succeed.