Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 29 January 2018

Better than holograms: A new 3-D projection into thin air

In this case, scientists cre- Tony Stark character dons
ated a small butterfly ap- a holographic glove. That
pearing to dance above couldn't happen in real life
a finger and an image of a because Stark's arm would
graduate student imitating disrupt the image.
Leia in the Star Wars scene. Going from holograms to
Even with all sorts of holo- this type of technology —
grams already in use, this technically called volumet-
new technique is the clos- ric display — is like shifting
est to replicating that Star from a two-dimensional
Wars scene. printer to a three-dimen-
"The way they do it is re- sional printer, Smalley said.
ally cool," said Curtis Broad- Holograms appear to the
bent, of the University of eye to be three-dimension-
Rochester, who wasn't part al, but "all of the magic is
of the study but works on happening on a 2-D sur-
a competing technology. face," Smalley said.
"You can have a circle of The key is trapping and
people stand around it moving the particles
and each person would be around potential disrup-
able to see it from their own tions — like Tony Stark's arm
perspective. And that's not — so the "arm is no longer
possible with a hologram." in the way," Smalley said.
This photo provided by the Dan Smalley Lab at Brigham Young University in January 2018 shows a
projected image of the earth above a finger tip in Provo, Utah. The tiny specks are con- Initially, Smalley thought
(Associated Press) trolled with laser light, like gravity would make the
the fictional tractor beam particles fall and make it
By SETH BORENSTEIN the smallest of screens: holograms, according to from "Star Trek," said Smal- impossible to sustain an
WASHINGTON (AP) — One dust-like particles. a study in Wednesday's ley, an electrical engineer- image, but the laser light
of the enduring sci-fi mo- Scientists have figured out journal Nature . The study's ing professor at Brigham energy changes air pres-
ments of the big screen how to manipulate nearly lead author, Daniel Smal- Young University. Yet it was sure in a way to keep them
— R2-D2 beaming a 3-D unseen specks in the air ley, said the new technol- a different science fic- aloft, he said.
image of Princess Leia into and use them to create ogy is "printing something tion movie that gave him It’s still years away from dai-
thin air in "Star Wars" — is 3-D images that are more in space, just erasing it very the idea: The scene in the ly use. q
closer to reality thanks to realistic and clearer than quickly." movie "Iron Man" when the
SpaceX fires engines on big new rocket in launch pad test

By MARCIA DUNN time at NASA's Kennedy (70-meter) rocket stood tall Last week’s firing appeared NASA's Saturn V moon
AP Aerospace Writer Space Center. All three and brilliantly white after to last for about 10 sec- rocket, used during the late
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. boosters — 27 engines in the test on the historic pad onds. 1960s and early 1970s, still is
(AP) — SpaceX fired up its all — were tested. The thun- once used by NASA's Apol- The Heavy — a triple-size the all-time champ when it
newest, biggest rocket in a derous booms could be lo moon rockets and space version of SpaceX's fre- comes to size and power. "I
critical launch pad test last heard at the press site three shuttles. quent flier, the Falcon 9 love that rocket so much,"
week, advancing toward a miles away, as huge white SpaceX chief executive — is tailor-made for space- Musk said in a tweet last
long-anticipated test flight clouds of engine exhaust Elon Musk said an hour later craft headed to the moon month.
possibly in just a week. billowed into a clear blue that the firing was good. or Mars, as well as extra-big The Heavy’s cargo for the
The Falcon Heavy briefly sky. Everything appeared "Generated quite a thun- satellites bound for low- test flight will be a Tesla
roared to life for the first normal: The 230-foot derhead of steam. Launch- Earth orbit. Roadster belonging to
ing in a week or so," he said A Falcon 9 has a single first- Musk, who also heads
via Twitter. stage booster; the Heavy the electric car compa-
The press site was busier has three strapped side- ny. Musk has repeatedly
than usual, as TV crews and by-side-by side, spanning warned the rocket could
other journalists gathered 40 feet (12 meters) across explode. If successful, his
at midday for the test. There at the base. The Falcon 9 is red sports car will end up
was no guarantee of a test routinely used to hoist satel- in a long, oval loop around
firing Wednesday. SpaceX lites as well as space station the sun, traveling as far out
had fueled the rocket be- cargo, and perhaps by the as the orbit of Mars. Two of
fore, but then stood down end of year, could be haul- the three Heavy boosters
for undisclosed reasons. ing crews for NASA, too. have launched before. q