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Star Trek: Voyager celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and the show still inspires fans, including some Dutch physicists who have recreated what is arguably the smallest ever model of the USS Voyager.
Voyager gets small … really small
Researchers from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands have worked on artificial “microswimmers”, which are objects comparable in size to bacteria and typically 1–10 µm, which can propel themselves through liquids. Most of the work on the microswimmers was made up of spherical objects, but the physicists from Leiden used a new Nanoscribe Photonic Professional printer to create more complex objects.
In a paper titled “Catalytic Propulsion 3D Printed Colloidal Microswimmers” published last month in Soft Matter magazine, the team showed off their latest efforts, which included a small Intrepid-class starship.
(Soft matter)
These micro swimmers can push themselves through liquid using chemical reactions, with their platinum coating reacting to a hydrogen peroxide solution. So this little little USS Voyager can actually fly … well … swim, if you want to be technical.
The researchers hope that micro-swimmers can be developed that can perform complex behaviors that can be used in a range of practical applications, including drug treatments. Maybe one day a small spaceship will fly around your bloodstream and save your life.
(h / t PC Gamer)
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