NASA | Making Tractor Beams a Reality (Eventually)

Tractor beams -- the ability to trap and move objects using laser light -- are the stuff of science fiction, but a team of NASA scientists has won funding to study the concept for remotely capturing planetary or atmospheric particles and delivering them to a robotic rover or orbiting spacecraft for analysis. This animation shows how a hypothetical future mission might eventually employ tractor beam technology.

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[DjSharperimage]

This sounds like "Teleportation"
Maybe we could use it for travel?

I had a near death experience once while I was sleeping in my bed,
It felt like a tractor beam was used on me,
I was flying through outer-space at a billion miles per second,
and I ended up in this super futuristic room, where everyone was wearing blue uniforms.
I asked them what happened, and they said "You stopped breathing"
I dont know if it was a tractor beam or if I really had a near death experience...

[uxeokbt]

Could the laser be used as a rat tool to sample the comet material as a function of depth?

(I'm a Project Icarus fan.)

[Vryan]

Looks more like the excursion funnel from Portal 2. Also, I guess I was watching too many sci-fi movies, I was expecting it to pull the comet off course or something.

[DjSharperimage]

@Jango370 It wasn't hazy like a dream, everything was as clear as it is right now, as I'm commenting on this page

[deleriumk]

@sushanalone In the future there will be robots... and sound in space.

[roidroid]

I have no literally idea of the physics involved in this video.
Does anyone?
Or is this just some "oh wouldn't it be cool if magic existed" bullshit.

I mean a laser beam attracting particles towards it? oh sure we learned all about that in school.
WHAT

[RoySchl]

this will be called a straw-beam or even better... a Suck-Ray

[beyondtherhetoric]

In space, no one can hear you scream.