{"id":526092,"date":"2010-04-13T10:20:23","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T14:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xconomy.com\/?p=73115"},"modified":"2010-04-13T10:20:23","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T14:20:23","slug":"beaming-power-to-uavs-space-elevators-and-someday-earth-the-lasermotive-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/526092","title":{"rendered":"Beaming Power to UAVs, Space Elevators, and Someday, Earth: The LaserMotive Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
startups<\/a>, Hardware<\/a>, energy<\/a><\/div>\n

\t\t\"LaserMotive\"<\/a>
\n\t\tGregory T. Huang wrote:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Think it\u2019s possible to shoot down a swarm of buzzing mosquitoes in mid-air? Or maybe you want to power up a remote flying vehicle? Tom Nugent is your man. The Seattle-area entrepreneur just might be the most versatile guy with a laser you\u2019ve ever met.<\/p>\n

Yes, a laser. Until recently, Nugent worked in the laboratory of Bellevue, WA-based Intellectual Ventures, the invention company led by Nathan Myhrvold, where one of his projects<\/a> was the so-called “photonic fence.” This effort has gotten lots of media attention<\/a>, most recently for an impressive demo at the TED conference in February. That\u2019s where Myhrvold showed a video<\/a> of a laser burning the wings off a flying mosquito in super slow-motion. The idea is this technology, implemented on a larger scale, could help prevent the spread of malaria or protect crops against flying pests.<\/p>\n

But Nugent\u2019s focus now is on something that might be more practical: power beaming. That means using lasers to deliver energy to remote sensors, vehicles, or base stations. It\u2019s a two-way trick: the receiver has to have a solar cell to convert the laser\u2019s energy into electricity. But as long as the solar cell is viable, the technology could be useful in any situation where installing a wire is impractical, where batteries run down, or where it\u2019s too expensive to truck in fuel.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s really just the beginning, to Nugent\u2019s mind. One of his ultimate goals is to be able to beam large amounts of solar power to Earth from space, presumably to help solve global-scale energy problems. For now, though, he\u2019ll settle for beaming power to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other remote devices, including very early technology that could help scientists develop something called a space elevator. These ideas, in sum, have turned into a small company called LaserMotive<\/a>, based in Kent, WA.<\/p>\n

Before dismissing these projects as far-fetched, a little background is required. The idea of power beaming has been around for decades. But advances in cheaper and more energy-efficient diode lasers have made it possible to pursue the idea commercially in the past few years. Even the rise of laser hair removal products (which you might see on late night TV) have helped things move forward. So in 2007, Nugent and fellow physicist (and Intellectual Ventures veteran) Jordin Kare, an expert on laser rocket propulsion who worked on the \u201cStar Wars\u201d nuclear-missile defense system in the 1980s—decided to make a business out of power beaming, and co-founded LaserMotive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we can produce revenue while we get experience,\u201d says Nugent, LaserMotive\u2019s president.<\/p>\n

\"LaserMotive<\/a><\/p>\n

Their first project: tackling the power beaming aspect of NASA\u2019s \u201cSpace Elevator Games.\u201d<\/a> If you don\u2019t know what a space elevator is, that\u2019s OK—it doesn\u2019t exist yet. The \u00fcber-futuristic idea is to have a cable anchored to the ground, extending thousands of miles into space, that could be used to launch payloads into orbit. The space end would be unattached, and the Earth\u2019s rotation would keep it taut so a robot \u201celevator\u201d could move up and down the cable, carrying equipment. Sure, this would take billions of dollars and a few decades to get working, but it could ultimately make space operations much cheaper than using rockets. That\u2019s the idea, at least.<\/p>\n

If a space elevator is ever going to work, it will need power at multiple steps along the way. So, at \u201cLevel 1\u201d of the NASA Power Beaming Challenge, held last November in Mojave, CA, Nugent and Kare\u2019s team used a ground-based infrared laser to beam energy to specially designed solar cells aboard an 11-pound robot (see photo, left) driven by an electric motor. (All power must come from the ground.) The robot climbed a 900-meter length of metal cable suspended from a helicopter. Nugent and Kare\u2019s was the only team to make it to the top<\/a> with an average climbing speed of more than 2 meters per second—their robot went nearly 4 meters per second (9 mph)—beating out two other teams, who failed to reach the top. The prize<\/a> was $900,000 (before taxes, Nugent laments—yes, it\u2019s that time of year).<\/p>\n

The upcoming \u201cLevel 2\u201d competition will be held later this year, …Next Page »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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startups, Hardware, energy Gregory T. Huang wrote: Think it\u2019s possible to shoot down a swarm of buzzing mosquitoes in mid-air? Or maybe you want to power up a remote flying vehicle? Tom Nugent is your man. The Seattle-area entrepreneur just might be the most versatile guy with a laser you\u2019ve ever met. Yes, a laser. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1747,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1747"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}