Prior to liftoff, a jet of compressed air is used to spin the lightcraft to about 10,000 revolutions per minute (RPMs). The spin is needed to stabilize the craft gyroscopically.
Once the lightcraf...
Prior to liftoff, a jet of compressed air is used to spin the lightcraft to about 10,000 revolutions per minute (RPMs). The spin is needed to stabilize the craft gyroscopically.
Once the lightcraft is spinning at an optimal speed, the laser is turned on, blasting the lightcraft into the air. The 10-kilowatt laser pulses at a rate of 25-28 times per second. By pulsing, the laser continues to push the craft upward. The light beam is focused by the parabolic mirror on the bottom of the lightcraft, which heats the air to between 18,000 and 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit (9,982 and 29,982 degrees Celsius) -- that's several times hotter than the surface of the sun. When you heat air to these high temperatures, it is converted to a plasma state -- this plasma then explodes to propel the craft upward.
(note: the Lightcraft here actually employed a plastic ablative propellant. So the "it burns air" statement is not entirely correct - the laser is igniting air AND PROPELLANT)
Lightcraft Technologies uses a Pulsed Laser Vulnerability Test System (PLVTS), an offspring of the Star Wars defense program. The 10 kw Carbon-dioxide pulsed laser being used for the experimental lightcraft is among the most powerful in the world.
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Asides from solar winds to power 'some' spacecraft, this technology would definitely prove useful for pushing craft around through zero gravity or perhaps moving payloads into place when building space architecture. But I would doubt that this technology alone would be ideal for terrestrial takeoff.
I do believe that today's lasers are powerful enough to lift up a full size lightcraft, I think the problem is that these lasers require large amounts of energy and they require large amounts of very toxic chemicals to get that energy. We'll have to wait until they bring a satellite that uses the Sun's energy to power up a laser. Who knows, this may be the next generation of flight. Sometime in the future the lasers will be small and efficient enough to be on the ship, propelling itself.
There might be an ether interaction when plasma is involved. If there is a Tesla solution to anti gravity ( which we do not know about) as he talked about his aircraft from 1910 to 1934, I'd say his craft would work on the ether system.
lol... allot of conspiracy nut cases in the comment section. wake up fools, there is no such thing as anti gravity, at least not yet. over powering gravitational force by electromagnetic is not " anti gravity" the same way rockets are not consider "anti gravity" you just over powering it with a stronger force, since gravity is the weakest force.
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But I would doubt that this technology alone would be ideal for terrestrial takeoff.
Lightcrafttechnologies website has recently changed
Also here's some recently published articles (google them):
Wired - February 20, 2009: "Laser Powered Aircraft are the future of Flight. Maybe"
Nextbigfuture - July 30, 2009: "Laser Propulsion Tests in Brazil using Gigawatt Pulsed Lasers"
Centauri Dreams - September 14 2009: "Lightcraft: A Laser Push to Orbit"
September 15 2009: "Lightcraft Experiments Continue"
(I always knew there was one lost)