Dr. Norte describes the state of the art for Starchip Nanosails. The Starshot Breakthrough initiative has been funding a 4 by 4 meters sail that weighs one gram. This will be propelled by a 100 Gigawatt laser array to travel at 20% of lightspeed to Alpha Centauri. He has made 4.5 centimeter by 4.5 Centimeters mirror like sail prototypes. These are made with an array of nanoscale holes which enable a mirror like surface with lightweight material. This was made for $25,000.
They are using AI and simulation to explore changing the nature and geometry of the holes so that far cheaper methods can be used to get the desired results. There is a lot of progress. They are also exploring how to get to far larger sizes.
He gives an example of the semiconductor industry getting to larger and larger sized wafers over the last few decades.
Making the sails bigger and lower cost seems to be very doable and progress is being made.
He also describes how these nanochip sails could be used for low cost but very fast exploration of the solar system. We could send nanochips to Mars in 32 hours or even less and out to Saturn in 11 days and Neptune in 70 days.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
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