Universe Today Podcast

[Interview] Punching NanoHoles in Light Sails Can Bring Us Closer to Alpha Centauri

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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

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 02:11 Current state of tech
  • 04:58 Nano-holes in reflective material
  • 11:08 Manufacturing techniques
  • 14:23 Practical applications
  • 20:58 Possible prototypes
  • 25:57 Current obsessions
  • 30:21 Final thoughts

    • 📺 VIDEO VERSION

    https://youtu.be/iHLm9oHMsyM

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    ⚖️ LICENSE

    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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    Universe Today PodcastBy Fraser Cain
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