Sunlight is all that’s needed to keep these tiny aircraft aloft

Tiny aircraft weighing under a milligram can float in Earth's mesosphere using sunlight through photophoresis. Designed by Benjamin Schafer's team, these centimeter-wide devices have two perforated layers creating temperature differences and gas flow for upward force. They successfully levitated in lab conditions simulating the mesosphere, 50-85 kilometers above Earth. This technology could improve data collection in this poorly understood region and potentially explore Mars' atmosphere.