Power Beaming For UAVs and Space Elevators

An anonymous reader writes "The idea of power beaming — using lasers or microwaves to transmit usable energy over great distances — has been around for decades. But recent advances in cheaper, more energy-efficient diode lasers have made power beaming commercially viable. LaserMotive, based in Kent, WA, is best known for winning the Level 1 prize of the NASA Power Beaming Challenge at the Space Elevator Games last November. In a new interview with Xconomy, LaserMotive co-founder Tom Nugent, who previously worked on the 'photonic fence' mosquito-zapping project at Intellectual Ventures, talks about gearing up for Level 2 of the NASA competition, slated for later this year. What's more, LaserMotive is trying to build a real business around beaming power to unmanned aerial vehicles, remote sensors and military bases, and other locations where it's impractical to run a wire, change batteries, or truck in fuel. The ultimate goal is to beam large amounts of solar power to Earth."

Comments

Re:Sounds cool

[QuantumG]

all the recent news of NASA being marginalized

You should look at where you're getting your news from.

Re:Sounds cool

[timmarhy]

i don't really give a fuck what warm and fuzzy feeling the nerds on the ground had about it. my point is it's probably not great for 9 out of 10 teams that enter it financially.

more power to NASA if they can find suckers to do their work for peanuts though...