5 ms·
This idea has shown up multiple times. I've never understood how they plan to communicate back, especially with a) gram-scale devices b) moving a significant fr
by dtgriscom 3y ago
This idea has shown up multiple times. I've never understood how they plan to communicate back, especially with a) gram-scale devices b) moving a significant fraction of the speed of light away from us while being c) multiple light-years away.
- mjrpes 3y agoThis article attempts to explain: https://www.nasa.gov/general/swarming-proxima-centauri/ https://www.nasa.gov/general/swarming-proxima-centauri/ "A swarm whose members are in known spatial positions relative to each other, having state-of-the-art microminiaturized clocks to keep synchrony, can utilize its entire population to communicate with Earth, periodically building up a single short but extremely bright contemporaneous laser pulse from all of them."
- 6d6b73 3y agoSo all these tiny satelites will also carry a laser and a power source for it? Yeah, good luck with it
- gumby 3y agoA kind of bucket brigade. They aren’t planning to launch a cloud of these things and be done, they’ll be launching a long stream of them for years. The probes can get power from the launch laser. At least that’s the idea I got from talking to some of these folks last year.
- GartzenDeHaes 3y agoProbably also worth noting that the laser would have practical military uses.
- rvbissell 3y agoLAZLO: "Looks at the facts: very high power. Portable. Limited firing time. Unlimited range. All you need is a tracking system and a large spinning mirror, and you could vaporize a human target from space." KNIGHT: "This is not good."
- GartzenDeHaes 3y agoI think we've stumbled onto the mission of the X-37b.
- ofslidingfeet 3y agoProbably the plan is to have some kind of small electronic that flies there and then sends signals back.