NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has flown over 15 billion miles since 1977. That distance barely touches 1% of the way to Alpha Centauri, the closest star. Humans need faster space travel to reach the stars. A lightsail offers hope. A lightsail is a thin, shiny sheet that light pushes, like wind moves a sailboat. It could shrink star travel from thousands of years to just decades.

Researchers from Brown University and Delft University of Technology created a new lightsail design. They shared it in Nature Communications. Their lightsail measures 60 millimeters wide and long, about 2.4 inches. Its thickness is only 200 nanometers, far thinner than a hair. The surface has billions of tiny holes. These holes cut weight and boost reflectivity for faster speed.

The researchers say that their design sets a record for size versus thinness, and is affordable and scalable for star travel. They used machine learning to perfect the design. This supports goals like the Breakthrough Starshot project. That project, started by Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking, aims to send tiny ships with lightsails powered by lasers.

Boosting speed with smart design

The researchers chose silicon nitride, a strong, light material. They aimed for high reflectivity and low weight. Reflectivity creates light pressure to push the sail. Less weight needs less force to move. They designed billions of nanoscale holes, smaller than light’s wavelength, and used artificial intelligence to shape and place the holes perfectly.

The process “is scalable to the dimensions needed for interstellar travel and can be done in a cost-effective manner,” notes a Brown University press release.

The researchers used a new gas method to carve the material gently. The result is a very thin lightsail. Fabrication took one day, not years like older ways. It costs thousands of times less too. The researchers hope the new lightsail design helps humans reach the stars and advances small scale engineering.

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