Posted on 03/13/2006 4:12:39 AM PST by S0122017
Laser powered glider Solar-powered drone planes could carry on cruising through the night, with a little help from sharp-shooting ground lasers.
Nobuki Kawashima and colleagues from Kinki University in southern Japan recently used a ground laser to power a super lightweight uncrewed aircraft.
The simple propeller-powered aircraft is 78 cm long and weighs just 800 grams. It was tested in a large auditorium called the Osaka Dome, near the university.
The plane used a battery to get up into the air but, at 50 metres, relied entirely on power drawn from a laser aimed at solar panels underneath. The researchers say the drone can keep flying as long as it is in range of a laser. They believe that such aircraft could one day be used to provide round-the-clock communications or ground observation in emergencies.
But the Japanese are not the only ones investigating the approach. A team from NASA's Dryden Flight Center and Marshall Space Flight Center have been working on laser powered drones (like the one above) for some time.
In the future, space elevators will also need to have power transmitted from the ground in order to climb slowly into space.
FT PING laser powered drone
Ah so. You occupy yourselves with such trivia,
AND MEANWHILE GODZILLA STILL ALIVE ON MONSTER ISLAND!
(Cheap electronic organ chords "thunder" in background.)
Seems to me you still would have the limitations of all lasers..if cloud coverage builds up, won't these units lose their power supply?
Imagine how useful these would be in disaster areas for linking communications between relief efforts where communications infrastructure has been damaged.
These types of drones may also one day replace satellites for high bandwidth applications because their closer proximity will mean bandwidth will be much greater. It may also mean that upgrades, and maintenance will also be easier.
(Also imagine how useful such drones could be for border patrol and surveillance.)
Explain, please.
By the way, if you follow the link to the story about the team from NASA's Dryden Flight Center and Marshall Space Flight Center, it appears that pretty picture is actually of the NASA plane, not the Japanese one.
Maybe that what was going on when the pilots were complaining of lasers being shined on their planes. < / sarcasm >
Interesting. But, I see problems with this design - line of sight issues, mostly.
A "....powered glider"?
Isn't that contradictory?
Laser-powered aircraft shines in tests
16:58 10 October 2003
NewScientist.com news service
Damian Carrington
Enlarge image
The specially developed photovoltaic cells convert the laser's energy into electricity, which powers the propeller (Image: NASA)Related Articles
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Dryden Flight Research Center, NASA
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Symposium on beamed energy propulsion, 2002
A prototype aircraft powered solely by a ground-based laser has flown through test flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California.
The plane, which has a wingspan of 1.5 metres and weighs just 300 grams, uses photovoltaic cells to convert the energy from the infrared beam into electricity to power a propeller.
The aim of the research is to develop aircraft that can fly at high altitude for indefinite periods. "The craft could keep flying as long as the energy source, in this case the laser beam, is uninterrupted," says Robert Burdine, at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, who was laser project manager for the test.
"The aircraft could be used for everything from relaying cell phone calls to cable television or internet connections," says David Bushman, project manager for beamed power at Dryden. It could also be used for remote sensing of the Earth's surface or to monitor the atmosphere.
There are numerous projects developing long duration, high altitude aircraft, including balloons and solar-powered planes. But spokesman Jerry Berg, at Marshall, points out that solar-powered craft need to carry heavy batteries to remain aloft at night, while balloons are more difficult than airplanes to hold in one location.
Beam block
One potential problem for a plane powered by a ground-based laser is an interruption of the beam by another aircraft or its attenuation by clouds. Berg told New Scientist that this can be prevented by deploying multiple lasers on the ground, meaning if one is blocked the others can maintain the supply of power.
Such a distributed system would also mean that each individual laser could be less powerful, reducing any possible danger from the beams to other aircraft or birds.
The researchers switched off the laser beam during the indoor test flights, upon which the plane glided down to land. Berg says a laser-powered plane could offer the long duration benefits of a satellite, while also being easily recoverable for repairs or upgrading. It could also fly closer to the Earth the lowest feasible satellite orbit.
The next step for the team, which includes members from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, is to begin scaling up the plane. The prototype was created with weight in mind, being constructed from balsa wood and carbon fibre tubing and covered with cellophane-like film.
Missiles and satellites
Using lasers, or other energy beams, to power planes, missiles or even to launch satellites has been discussed for many decades. But it has not been until recently that the first tests were attempted.
In October 2000, a small elliptical projectile, the size of a softball was fired 70 metres into the air using a carbon dioxide laser. The test was conducted by the US military at the White Sands missile range in New Mexico.
And in June 2002, researchers from the Tokyo Institute for Technology, Japan, announced that they had used a laser to evaporate water off a tiny paper plane, forcing it forward.
Sorry. Not trying to cause trouble.
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