{"id":68225,"date":"2025-08-14T05:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T05:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/68225\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T05:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T05:15:09","slug":"scientists-unveil-wild-new-way-to-explore-the-edge-of-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/68225\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Unveil Wild New Way to Explore the Edge of Space"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists often refer to the mesosphere<\/a> as the \u201cignorosphere<\/a>\u201d\u2014a region that\u2019s too high for planes or weather balloons to explore, yet too low for satellites to probe. Despite our technological advances, we\u2019ve yet to find a decent way to monitor this large stretch of air, which lies about 37 miles (60 kilometers) above the surface. But engineers are inching towards a solution\u2014one inspired by a toy-like invention from the 19th century.<\/p>\n

A Nature<\/a> paper published today presents a proof-of-concept for an extremely lightweight, disc-like structure that levitates thanks to sunlight, no fuel required. Crafted from ceramic aluminum with a chromium base, the device floats on photophoresis, which literally means \u201clight-driven motion.\u201d When sunlight strikes the device, the differences in heat and pressure around the disc create an upward airflow, keeping the disc airborne. The pressure difference produces photophoretic lift\u2014enough to keep these little guys aloft.<\/p>\n

Although this particular device was tailored for mesospheric exploration, the physics driving its flight could easily be applied to future missions beyond Earth\u2014including the achingly thin Martian atmosphere, as long as there\u2019s sufficient sunlight, the researchers say.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhotophoresis requires no fuel, batteries, or photovoltaics, so it is an inherently sustainable flight mechanism,\u201d Ben Schafer<\/a>, study lead author and an associate researcher at Harvard University, told Gizmodo in an email. \u201cWe could use these devices to collect groundbreaking atmospheric data to benefit meteorology, perform telecommunications, and predict space weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initial idea dates back to 1873, when physicist William Crookes invented a radiometer<\/a> that fed off sunlight. Subsequent projects attempted to build on Crookes\u2019s invention, but with limited success, as Igor Bargatin<\/a>, a mechanical engineer at the University of Pennsylvania, explained in an accompanying News & Views article. (Although Bargatin did not participate in the new study, Schafer cited his work as one of the main inspirations for the device.)<\/p>\n

Schafer and his colleagues, however, capitalized on previous work and recent advances in nanofabrication technology for their blueprint, constructing samples of \u201cshiny, thin squares with very tiny holes,\u201d as Schafer described them. Researchers from multiple countries teamed up on the project, combining theoretical and experimental steps. Normally, the photophoretic force is weak relative to an object\u2019s size and weight, making it nearly impossible to notice, Schafer explained.<\/p>\n

But the new device is so thin and tiny\u2014about half the size of a penny\u2014that the photophoretic force actually exceeds its weight, causing it to levitate. To validate its calculations, the team built a low-pressure chamber in the lab to simulate the atmospheric and sunlight conditions of the mesosphere. To their delight, the tiny discs remained aloft.<\/p>\n

Schafer, now CEO of Rarefied Technologies, is moving quickly to bring these devices to commercial use. His team wants to tinker with the fabrication element so the discs can carry communications technology that can collect and send back weather data, Schafer said.\u00a0\u201cWe plan to use passive devices that can be tracked remotely with lidar<\/a> or radar to collect weather data in the upper atmosphere; this could reach the pilot phase in a couple years,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the full potential of this technology can be realized, swarms or arrays of such photophoretic flyers could be collecting high-resolution data on the temperature, pressure, chemical composition, and wind dynamics of the mesosphere,\u201d Bargatin added. \u201cWhat began as a Victorian curiosity might soon become a key tool for probing the most elusive region of the atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists often refer to the mesosphere as the \u201cignorosphere\u201d\u2014a region that\u2019s too high for planes or weather balloons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[43080,25544,49,48,66,9605,306],"class_list":{"0":"post-68225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-aircraft","9":"tag-atmospheric-science","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-solar-power","14":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}