NASA Flies First Laser-powered Aircraft 283
unassimilatible writes "NASA has successfully tested a small-scale aircraft that flies solely by means of propulsive power delivered by an invisible, ground-based laser. How far away can in-flight IP/LASER broadband be?"
Life Imitating Art? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why can't they do this with power? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Life Imitating Art? (Score:3, Interesting)
Balsa.. (Score:1, Interesting)
I used to buy balsa wood airplanes at the local 7/11 for fifty cents and fly those puppies all day with no fuel on board. 'Course at the end of the day you would light the tail on fire with the matches you snuck from the kitchen drawer, climb up on the roof and send her spiralling into oblivion; riding a tail of flame and smoke!
We didn't need no stinkin lasers!
What is the fixation with wings? (Score:3, Interesting)
Wireless laptop power? (Score:3, Interesting)
It'd be nice if I could something like this to work to power my laptop!
So, what happens when it gets cloudy? (Score:3, Interesting)
Or something else that vexes me even more greatly; will it be able to fly in london? (fog).
NASA has a laser powered flying saucer (Score:3, Interesting)
I saw it on a PBS show about advanced propulsion devices a few years ago. Very much a research project, and not currently capable of carrying a payload, but interesting for its simplicity (in the craft at least).
Another solution in development for a while (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:So, what happens when it gets cloudy? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think this has it's best use in forms of helping a pilot who has run out of fuel. If planes move to fuel cell propulsion (There is a small fuel cell powered plane on the market now!) in the future, as they will once the technology is perfected in cars, if a pilot is running low on power, he can request a laser assist to limp to the nearest airport.
Re:One simple question (Score:3, Interesting)
There are two ways of handling this. One is to get the most efficient conversion possible, to cut down on the amount of mass needed. The other is to figure out a way to use whatever matter is in the area, so you don't have to bring it along. It's like bringing along a credit card to buy food when you get to Peoria, instead of bringing a bunch of food in your luggage.
A variation is to deliver that energy in some lightweight form, such as photons. Even if the system for generating this energy is huge and weighty, it can just sit on the ground and not move, which is the most important thing.
Far in the future, it may be possible to move objects weighing several hundred pounds this way, at a range of several miles. Specifically, a family and their luggage. They could zip around at 3000 meters up, powered by laser repeater stations every few miles, set up much like cellular phone towers, except perhaps in special air lanes analogous to interstate highways. This would save billions of dollars in fuel that would otherwise have to be moved around along with the important cargo.
Eventually, one might also see goods transported to space this way. As was said earlier, a space elevator could use this to move cars up and down.