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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.""

3 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?

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

  2. 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....
  3. 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).

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    hmmmm?