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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.""

9 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Perhaps by kaoshin · · Score: 5, Funny

    They could seek the advice of street bums. They have lots of experience with forming structures from rubble and may provide valuable insight!

  2. just make sure you get the right channel by Wantok · · Score: 5, Funny

    OK, just tune the megatransmitter to a hiphop station for the structural elements...

    classical for the smooth solar sails...

    and talkback for all the crap that has to be cleared off the building site.

    --
    mi save tingting long peles bilong mi long Niu Ailan.
  3. In Space no one can hear you build by codeonezero · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hehe,

    Lets just hope the engineers aren't big Star Trek fans or they'll try building these structures with sound in outer space. :-)

    --

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

  4. 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) { ... }

    1. Re:Can the opposite be done as well? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's easy to protect the structure once you've built. I've studied this.. They fabricate and anneal a thin Sn-based alloy. Then, they shape it into a semi-conical, logarithmically-pitched manifold, which is then affixed to the perimeter of the structure. This creates an area where impinging radio waves create surface currents, which then create radio waves of their own. The two waves cancel, thus protecting the internal structures.

      This theory also has medical applications: you can fashion a similar device to keep certain extraterrestrial radio signals from interfering from your neurotransmitters. There isn't much medical literature about this yet, but it's a growing field and doctors are beginning to appreciate the dangers of these radio waves.

      I wear such a device myself.

  5. I used one of these once... by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was using one of these radio wave generators to construct my own personal spacecraft last week.

    My friend and I were sitting there in the station, and were getting real tired of the annoying noise being picked up by our stereo. We were getting really bored bored, and as you know these things take hours, so we decided to see what would happen when we broadcast some hard rock via the device.

    And it worked... mostly. All was going well until the end. All of a sudden, about 3/4 of the way through Jimmy Hendrix playing "All along the Watchtowner", the craft started spinning around wildly, and smashed itself to the moon where it shattered into a million pieces, and then it set itself on fire.

    I can't figure it out...

    And then my sister put in some Michael Jackson, but I don't even want to talk about that...

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
  6. 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.

    --
    Patrick Doyle
    I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
  7. 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?
  8. Radio waves by MongooseCN · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude: Dude, nice techno.

    Technician: Actually I'm sending out the construction sequence for the storage module for the ISS.

    Dude: Woaw.... Rock on.

    --


    Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl