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

Universe Today Podcast · Jun 2, 2025 · 32m

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 optimizationhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57749-y00:00 Intro02:11 Current state of tech04:58…