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[NIAC 2023] NASA Develops Flying Saucers. Literally

Author
Fraser Cain
Published
Thu 06 Apr 2023
Episode Link
https://universetoday.fireside.fm/969

There's an effect called photophoretic propulsion. You could have seen it in a Crookes radiometer. One of the NIAC awards of 2023 was granted to a team that hopes to use this effect to develop a propulsion system. This can allow flying in altitudes nothing else can fly and possibly even explore other worlds.

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👉 More about the NIAC grant:

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2023/Photophoretic_Propulsion_Enabling_Mesosphere_Exploration/

https://bargatin.seas.upenn.edu/


  • 00:00 Intro

  • 01:19 Levitation in science

  • 05:47 Coming up with a design

  • 11:33 Testing the design

  • 15:34 Potential applications

  • 23:10 Challenges

  • 28:03 Other worlds

  • 33:18 Outro

📺 VIDEO VERSION

https://youtu.be/BzG64g4UEHo

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