YES! Drones Now Rechargeable By Laser

This is a technological advance I've had my eyes on for a couple of years now. There is no point hefting up thousands of tons of fuel in an aircraft -- and each ton of fuel takes five or six tons just to loft -- if you can power the aircraft by a very long extension cord.

That extension cord is a laser, directed at a receiving plate on the aircraft. You can leave the fuel on the ground and just pump the power up by laser-line, as needed. Weight: Zero point zero zero.

Now, you'd have to have an emergency cache of fuel on board, in case you have to land under your own power. But just using a laser to get a plane up to altitude on take-off would cut fuel use by, I don't know, 60-80% on any medium to long trip?

This story is just about powering drones by remote laser, but obviously the technology can be used for aircraft. Or spacecraft. Laser-assisted take-offs could make getting up to orbit reasonably economical.

Lockheed Martin and a company called LaserMotive have been able to keep a drone flying for some 49 hours non-stop, using a ground-based laser to recharge the drone’s on board battery, says Tom Koonce, the project manager for Lockheed Martin, in an interview with KNX1070 Newsradio.

The test, says Koonce, was conducted in a wind tunnel in Palmdale. The system will very soon be tested in actual airspace in the desert, requiring coordination with both the FAA and NASA to keep the ground-based laser from interfering with either commercial aircraft or Earth-orbiting space vehicles.

Don't get all excited. You didn't build that.

In forty years, we could have a National Laser Power Grid extending across the US. Planes might fly from node-to-node getting juiced.

posted by Ace at 03:04 PM

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