<<off topic>> ((The Future??))Laser-propelled vehicle may used to place microsatellites in orbit.(experimental)
Lightcraft to 50 ft: A laser-propelled vehicle reached a record height of 50 ft in recent tests at Edwards Air Force Base, CA, up from the previously reported 14 ft (see Laser Report, November 1, 1997, p. 2). The Lightcraft project, directed by Leik Myrabo of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) and Franklin Mead of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards, is a free-flying, 42.5-g vehicle made of aluminum that operates by the rapid, intense heating of air that is then forced out of a nozzle at the back of the vehicle. The researchers expect to reach 75 ft soon, and the project's goal for the next year and a half is to reach at least a kilometer, vertically, in free flight, according to Myrabo. The technique could someday be used to place microsatellites in orbit.
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