Podcasts · Universe Today Podcast
[Interview] Punching NanoHoles in Light Sails Can Bring Us Closer to Alpha Centauri
· 32 min
Episode [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.
😍 [Interview+] Same video. No YT ads. https://www.patreon.com/universetoday
🟣 Guest: Lucas Norder https://www.tudelft.nl/en/staff/l.norder/
📜 Pentagonal photonic crystal mirrors: scalable lightsails with enhanced acceleration via neural topology optimization https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57749-y
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00:00 Intro
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02:11 Current state of tech
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04:58 Nano-holes in reflective material
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11:08 Manufacturing techniques
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14:23 Practical applications
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20:58 Possible prototypes
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25:57 Current obsessions
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30:21 Final thoughts
📺 VIDEO VERSION https://youtu.be/iHLm9oHMsyM
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🎧 PODCASTS Universe Today: https://universetoday.fireside.fm/ Astronomy Cast: http://www.astronomycast.com/
📩 CONTACT FRASER frasercain@gmail.com
⚖️ LICENSE Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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