Washington: American mechanical engineers
have invented a one-centimetre-square "smart dust" spacecraft
that could provide an early warning of dangerous space storms.
The spacecraft, designed by Mason Peck and Justin
Atchison from the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, is
modelled on the dust particles that orbit the sun and could
alert about the approaching space storms well before a
conventional craft can.
The prototypes of the machine that is 25 micrometers
thick and weighs less than 7.5 milligram’s, are due to be
launched into low-Earth orbit this year, journal New Scientist
reported.
"The craft is modelled on the dust particles that orbit
the sun and are propelled by the photons streaming out from
the sun," Peck said.
He said, "This solar radiation pressure would have a
negligible effect on normal-sized spacecraft but is
significant at the millimetre scale. The grooved edges of the
spacecraft-on-a chip deflect incoming photons in such a way as
to ensure it always faces the sun".
Peck estimates that its miniature size could give an
extra 13 minutes' notice of a storm compared with larger solar
monitoring craft such as NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer.
The craft's miniature size would let it hitch a ride
into space on the back of another satellite mission headed for
the Lagrange point between the earth and the sun.
The chips are essentially small solar panels with a radio
antenna, and could act as a solar wind sensor.
The team envisaged with the job of sending a whole swarm
of these "smart dust" chips to the Lagrange point, where they
would monitor the strength of the solar wind.
They would also warn of any oncoming gusts of charged
particles that could disrupt communications and electronic
systems on Earth.
"At this stage we're just hoping to demonstrate that a
spacecraft the size of a fingernail is feasible," the
researcher said.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, February 06, 2010, 20:25