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Researchers develop nanomaterial lightsails to propel next-gen spaceships
Nanomaterial breakthrough could reduce the time it takes to travel to Mars to weeks instead of years
Researchers at TU Delft in the Netherlands and Brown University in the USA have developed scalable nanotechnology-based lightsails that could support future advances in space exploration such as missions to Mars. The current prototype measures 60mm x 60mm and is 200 nanometres thick, covered in billions of nanosized holes, and represents a significant step forward in large-scale lightsail fabrication. The research is part of the Breakthrough Starshot Initiatives, which aim to send gram-scale microchip probes to Alpha Centauri within 20 years, propelled by laser-driven lightsails at a fifth of light speed to enable interstellar exploration beyond the solar system.
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