NASA is funding a team of engineers to develop tractor beam technology in future probe missions. The space agency awarded Paul Stysley and team members Demetrios Poulios and Barry Coyl $100,000 to study three experimental techniques for using lasers to collect particle samples.

"Though a mainstay in science fiction, and Star Trek in particular, laser-based trapping isn't fanciful or beyond current technological know-how," Stysley said in a statement.

"The original thought was that we could use tractor beams for cleaning up orbital debris, but to pull something that huge would be almost impossible - at least now. That's when it bubbled up that perhaps we could use the same approach for sample collection."

Tractor beams can be used by spacecraft on exploration missions to continuously sample their target. The new techniques could half the time space missions use to collect samples. Drills take a long time to gather samples with tractor beams spacecraft could use laser to zap rocks and use the tractor beam to collect debris.

The first technique is the use of optical tweezers which is already used in most biology laboratories today. This method uses a pair of lasers to trap particles and carry them back to a probe. The second technique is by using a Bessel beam which creates a ring of light to generate electric and magnetic fields to move particles. The third technique uses optical solenoid beams where the laser forms a corkscrew shape that can move samples.

Here are 5 tech from Star Trek that we commonly use today. Click "START" for the slideshow.

NASA