A swarm of tiny spacecraft propelled by a powerful laser could enable us to more rapidly explore space, and they would work as a network to map out the properties of bodies in our solar system like the sun and distant planets.
One possible method for reaching other planets and stars is by using a light sail, a thin material that can be pushed through space by particles of light, or photons, at high speed. While experiments that use the sun鈥檚 light to propel spacecraft have been launched near Earth, faster, laser-propelled craft that could be used for interstellar travel don鈥檛 yet exist.
at the University of Padua in Italy and her colleagues have proposed using a powerful laser, placed either on Earth or the moon, to propel a group of small spacecraft at some 5 kilometres per second through our solar system and towards planets like Venus or Mars, or even the sun, so that they can map magnetic landscapes.
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As well as providing new information about our solar system, these small craft could be a test bed for future interstellar travel, says Pelizzo. 鈥淚t simplifies things, but still allows us to send many, many satellites and explore our solar system.鈥�
Pelizzo and her colleagues simulated the orbits and propulsion required for sending fleets of CubeSats, an established class of diminutive satellites that weigh around 1 kilogram, but with light sails attached, out into space, and made calculations to find out what sort of lasers might be required.
Most of the technology needed to build these systems already exists, but for the system to function well, an extremely powerful laser would probably need to be installed on the moon, which would take at least a decade, says Pelizzo.
Using swarms of spacecraft, or light sails propelled by lasers, isn鈥檛 a new idea, says at the University of Manchester, UK, but using a swarm to map features of planetary atmospheres such as the distribution of plasma, could be a useful feature to accompany conventional space missions, she says.
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