3 ms·
This is one of the (many) things Philip Lubin has looked at. The momentum transfer from photons is far too low. However this can be partially fixed. A laser can
by ravar 8y ago
This is one of the (many) things Philip Lubin has looked at. The momentum transfer from photons is far too low. However this can be partially fixed. A laser can vaporize part of the trash and then heat up some of the vaporized material, effectively turning the ablated material into a small rocket. I am not entirely sure how much more effective this is, and if it is enough to be a viable technology.
- allannienhuis 8y agoalignment of forces would be a real pain. I expect the little rockets would just spin the item around. Also, I would expect much of the existing space junk to already be spinning in random directions for this approach to be really difficult. (didn't read the article - perhaps it's explained there?)
- mLuby 8y agoYou could disperse* the beam over the entire object to even out any added rotational force. *whether by increasing beam diameter or sweeping beam across the object's face.