FYI,

"NASA Model Plane Flies on Laser Power"
Associated Press
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&e=1&u=/ap/20031009
/ap_on_sc/laser_plane

: EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - NASA has built and flown a
: remote-controlled plane powered from the ground by the beam of an
: invisible laser.

: In indoor flights conducted last month at a NASA center in Alabama,
: the plane flew lap after lap, gliding to a landing once the laser
: beam was turned off, the agency said Thursday.

: While in flight, the laser tracked the 11-ounce, five-foot wingspan
: plane, striking the photovoltaic cells that powered the tiny motor
: that turned its lone propeller.

: "The craft could keep flying as long as the energy source, in this
: case the laser beam, is uninterrupted," said Robert Burdine, laser
: project manager for the tests, conducted at the Marshall Space
: Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

: In earlier flights completed last year, engineers manually traced
: the path flown by the plane with a theatrical spotlight that
: provided the power needed to turn its propeller.

: The remote-controlled planes don't have to carry their own fuel or
: batteries, providing more room for scientific instruments or
: communications equipment.

: "The aircraft could be used for everything from relaying cell phone
: calls to cable television or Internet connections," said David
: Bushman, project manager for beamed power at Dryden Flight Research
: Center at Edwards, where the plane was designed and built.

: The plane is not the first to capitalize on laser power. A team of
: Japanese researchers announced last year they successfully flew a
: paper airplane on bursts of laser light.

: That team's approach differed, however: the blasts of laser heated
: drops of water on the plane's one-inch wings, turning them to puffs
: of vapor that pushed the aircraft forward.

Mark Reiff