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Radio Waves Employed in Space Construction

Posted by Hemos on

CDeity writes "Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology claim that radio waves could be used to shape and fuse debris in space to form massive structures according to this article. Scientists have in the past employed sound and light waves to position small particles, and every expectation indicates these techniques could work on a large scale. One engineer estimates " it would take approximately one hour to form a rubble cloud into a 50-meter long enclosed structure.""

5 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Can the opposite be done as well? by codeonezero · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ok,

    So I haven't quite read the article but it occured to me.

    Is it possible to demolish such a structure with radio waves? Or do the laws that lets you do things one way, prevent you form doing things the other way?

    if you can't demolish the structures with radio waves, then what changes once you have built the structure that prevents you from doing so?

    --

    ....
    int main (void) { ... }

  2. Weapons Research by N8F8 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And how long would it take to push debris into an enemy satellite? Or form a large enough mass to plunk down on an unsuspecting enemy?

    --
    "God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
  3. Clean up the space junk by p3d0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Could this be used to solve that nasty space junk problem? As I understand it, there is no known way to clean this stuff up.

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    Patrick Doyle
    I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
  4. what about? by perrin5 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Newton's 3rd law (equal and opposite reaction...), according to their nifty little diagram, this would require satelites surrounding the object, and pushing them from all directions, so:
    1) how do you keep the satelites around after they start generating their waves?
    2) how do you keep them symmetrical? (the requirement is that they set up a resonator, I think, in which case, spacing is VERY important).

    --
    hmmmm?
  5. What about on earth, in water? by btempleton · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Could this technique be used to take building blocks that have been tuned to be neutrally boyant, and then assemble them into structures using sound in the water, then slowly lower the water and weld each layer as it comes out of the water?

    Of course neutrally boyant requires no gasses in the objects that can be compressed, though I could imagine you might have metal building blocks with a gas bladder inside that can be filled by computer controlled pump to make it neutrally boyant to some degree.

    Imagine building the frame of a house in a big
    tank.

    Anybody done this?

    --
    Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation