From: nuny@bid.nes   
      
   On Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 6:40:20 AM UTC-7, Robert Clark wrote:   
   > I've been thinking of ways we can get such nanocraft to link up through    
   > self-assembly and form larger structures that can do more detailed    
   > observations and experiments. This could work even for visits to far off    
   > destinations still in the Solar System such as Kuiper belt objects like    
   > Pluto or the Oort cloud.   
   >    
   > The main problem is getting the many objects flying independently and   
      
     They won't be flying independently, they'll be a coordinated swarm. They   
   will have to be.   
       
   > getting further apart the further out they go to gradually be drawn to each    
   > other and link up. Once they link up, I don't it would be to difficult to    
   > then get them to do self-assembly.   
   >    
   > But it's that drawing together step that is the sticking point.   
      
     I'm not seeing the problem. If each starchip has its own lightsail, how hard   
   will it be for each chip to steer itself in coordination with the rest of the   
   swarm, using the energy from the launch beam, or sunlight at the destination?   
      
   > I was wondering how they were going to get comms back from such a   
   > small package.  I guess the answer is they haven't exactly figured   
   > that out yet.   
      
     Easy peasy- most of the swarm just links up to form a Great Big Reflector   
   aimed at Earth and the rest site themselves at the focus to combine their   
   transmit power, and transmit away. It'll take a lot of them to make it work,   
   but if each is a centimeter    
   across and weighs a couple grams, we can send millions per launch.   
      
      
     Mark L. Fergerson   
      
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