LaserMotive, a research and development company based in Seattle Washington has derived a way to use lasers as a source of power for UAV's. The concept for their endeavor originally came from their participation in the 2009 space elevator games where they won NASA's 2 million dollar prize in the power beaming challenge. The company has recently demonstrated its laser system at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America 2010 Conference back in August where they powered a small tethered helicopter for over six hours. The idea for this laser powered concept is to integrate it into unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs. "Not only does this provide a way for UAVs to be powered in flight without the need for fuel, but it potentially can extend their abilities and enable new missions ," said Tom Nugent, President of LaserMotive. The company plans to test this new system of power beaming on a larger un-tethered UAV in the near future.
The concept of laser power devlivery has been around for some time, but now we are seeing practical realization of the technology. Perhaps one day soon laser power beaming will extend our space travel reaches. More information on LaserMotive can be found here: http://lasermotive.com/
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