Near-lightspeed nano spacecraft might be close

MSNBC ^ | 7/8/09 | Daniel H. Wilson

[LibWhacker]

Researchers creating the tiny engines that could drive mini-starships

Massive particle accelerators are exploring the world of the very small, but similar technology may someday propel needle-sized spacecraft to distances on a scale so large as to be almost unimaginable — between star systems.

Thanks to research on nano-sized thrusters that act like portable particle accelerators, tiny spacecraft might be accelerated to near-lightspeed and sent to explore nearby stars — perhaps within our lifetimes.

[GeronL]

Or we could slap hundreds of them on a large ship.

[Jolla]

I recall back in the old Soviet Union days, they announced they had created the worlds largest microchip.

[ClearCase_guy]

I’m picturing Mr. Scott inhaling helium and screeching a tiny “Th’engines can’ take much more, Sir!”

[Lazamataz]

Thanks to research on nano-sized thrusters that act like portable particle accelerators, tiny spacecraft might be accelerated to near-lightspeed and sent to explore nearby stars

....carrying eetsy-beetsy tiny little astronauts.

[NMEwithin]

That’s all well in good...until The Borg assimilate them...and then what????

[Jewbacca]

Or a swarm of them could assemble into a larger ship on arriving at their destination.

[GeronL]

lol

[Jewbacca]

Or DNA to grow one. And implant the mind stored electronically.

[mysterio]

[DannyTN]

LOL, they probably did!

[webheart]

More NanoBS. What would be the purpose of sending a spacecraft the size of a sewing needle to another star? The only people who would be fascinated by such a concept work for MSN and MSNBC. for one, it would be too small to track, once it got ten feet from the launch pad. The next concern would be what sort of instrumentation and communication equipment it could carry. So, theoretically, you could make a really small but fast-moving projectile, but to claim it would be useful for space exploration is snake oil.

People have been talking about nano robotics for years. They contemplate molecular-sized mechanisms that could do all sorts of tiny work, but they have yet to show even the first prototype. The thing about nanotechnologies is that they can tell you that it’s right there, building tiny nanobuildings, and you couldn’t see a damn thing. That’s because nanostuff is too small to see. So we can pay millions in grants to research something that can’t even be seen or touched.

[ml/nj]

I wonder if these guys know about the conservation of momentum! In order to accelerate a mass in space, you have to expel mass. Nano stuff isn't going to do it.

ML/NJ

[webheart]

well and good

[blues_guitarist]

"People have been talking about nano robotics for years. They contemplate molecular-sized mechanisms that could do all sorts of tiny work, but they have yet to show even the first prototype. The thing about nanotechnologies is that they can tell you that it’s right there, building tiny nanobuildings, and you couldn’t see a damn thing. That’s because nanostuff is too small to see. So we can pay millions in grants to research something that can’t even be seen or touched."

Flea Circus?

[DevNet]

How many 11 pound sewing needles have you seen?

[Hegemony Cricket]

Well that’ll be just great. It will prolly poke some sleeping alien when it gets there and he will come back here to open up a large-size can of whoop-@$$ on us...

[LibWhacker]

Or these needle-sized ships would carry nano-assemblers that could use raw materials found at the destination site to build "a scientific station for analysis and data return."

'Course, I don't see how the heck they're going to accomplish all this in our lifetime (not mine, anyway) -- Maybe in the lifetimes of our grandkids...

[LibWhacker]

The ships are particle accelerators. So they are expelling mass at nearly lightspeed. There’s your propulsion, and that’s why the ship has to be kept tiny and light.

[ml/nj]

If you expel a particle mass that weighs one microgram at the speed of light (no mean feat) its momentum would be 3x10⁸ x 10^-6 or 300 gr m/sec. A single pilot alone weighs about 75,000 grams so if he got all of the momentum to balance the expulsion his speed would increase less than half a millimeter per second. What am I missing?

ML/NJ