We issued a press release today: LaserMotive to Work on NASA “Ride the Light” Game Changing Space Technology Project for Future Missions. See below for the full text of the release.

LaserMotive, an independent R&D company specializing in laser power beaming and winner of the 2009 NASA sponsored Power Beaming Competition, today announced it is one of the companies named to work on the new NASA “Ride the Light” project, one of the space organization’s new space technology projects in the Game Changing Technology division to pursue revolutionary technology required for future missions.

“The technologies pursued in this effort have the potential to revolutionize both space launch and on orbit operations, we are happy to be working with LaserMotive and all of our partners to make power beaming a reality,” said Charles Taylor of NASA.

Ride the Light will use beamed power and propulsion produced by commercially available power sources such as lasers and microwave energy to attempt to develop a low-cost, modular power beaming capability and explore multiple technologies to function as receiving elements of the beamed power. LaserMotive already has experience in developing its own laser power beaming system, based on technology LaserMotive developed for its winning entry in the 2009 NASA Power Beaming Challenge, that it has used to set world records for laser powered helicopter flight, first in August 2010 at the AUVSI Conference in Denver, Colo., and again in October 2010 at the Future of Flight in Mukilteo, Wash.

“We’re pleased to be a part of this ground breaking project by NASA,” said Tom Nugent, president and co-founder of LaserMotive. “LaserMotive believes that laser power beaming not only has the ability to provide an endless fuel supply to air and space craft, but it also has the potential to extend their abilities, improve their endurance and enable new missions. Being invited to be a part of the Ride the Light project is a validation of our company’s vision.”

Following the Phase One studies, NASA expects to make an implementation decision in 2012.

Headquartered in Kent, Wash., LaserMotive is a privately-held R&D company specializing in laser power beaming for commercial applications. The company was co-founded in 2006 by Dr. Jordin Kare, one of the foremost experts on laser propulsion, and Tom Nugent, former Research Director for LiftPort Group. Its industry partners include some of the leading companies in aerospace and lasers, including The Boeing Company, DILAS, MS Kennedy, Ophir Spiricon, Zaber Technologies, and In-Tec. For more information, including a white paper on LaserMotive’s UAV strategy, please visit the company website at www.lasermotive.com .

We are proud to announce an investment in LaserMotive from the Space Angels Network led by Brad Fleury, Director of Edge Consulting! Read the full press release for more information, and stay tuned for more news coming soon!

We are proud to announce that the Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization (CTSI) chose LaserMotive as one of the top 10 (out of more than 200) defense energy technology solutions, to present to a range of military officials at the Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit on September 13th.

CTSI issued a press release (the full PDF is on our site: CTSI Announces Top 10 Defense Energy Technology Solutions), which begins:

The Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization (CTSI) recognizes the 2011 Top 10 Defense Energy Technology Solutions. From over 220 global applicants spanning the energy spectrum, the organizations with the most promising military-related technologies were selected to present to panel of officials including the U.S. Army, U.S Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.

We are looking forward to presenting at APCE!

LaserMotive issued a press release today:
LaserMotive To Demonstrate Wireless Power Technology for UAVs at SPIE Orlando. See below for the text of the release.

LaserMotive, an independent R&D company specializing in laser power beaming and winner of the 2009 NASA-sponsored Power Beaming Challenge, will be showcasing examples of its wireless power system for unmanned aerial vehicles, including models of electric helicopters and aircraft, here at the SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing Exhibition April 26-29 in Orlando, Florida, booth 3700.

The LaserMotive technology uses laser power beaming – the wireless transfer of energy over long distances using laser light – to create an endless source of power to aircraft. The LaserMotive laser power beaming system is based on technology the company developed for its winning entry in the 2009 Power Beaming Challenge for a purse prize of nearly $1 million, marking the first time any team ever won the Challenge.

Among the technologies on display are:
- A fully-functioning demonstration of a laser powered micro-helicopter. The demonstration is eye-safe and has been designed to fit inside LaserMotive’s booth at the Exhibition. The tethered demonstration model uses technology LaserMotive developed for the longest duration tethered laser-powered helicopter flight on record, set last August at the AUVSI Conference. At that time, the demonstration model successfully flew up to six hours continuously each day of the four-day conference.

- A simulation of a ground-based laser transmitter and multiple aircraft with laser receivers , including the record breaking laser-powered free-flying quadrocopter. That flight took place in October 2010 at the Future of Flight Aviation Center, where the unmanned quadrocopter flew continuous for more than 12 hours powered solely by lasers.

The technologies on display are part of the company’s long-term strategy to develop a full-scale laser power system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). According to industry research firm the Teal Group, UAVs are one of the largest growth sectors in the aerospace and defense industries with an expected growth rate worldwide to $11.5 billion annually by 2020.

In addition to the display, LaserMotive President Tom Nugent will present a paper titled #8045-40, with the title “Laser power beaming for defense and security applications.” This paper will overview wireless power via laser for unmanned aerial vehicles, remote sensors, and forward operating bases.

“We’re pleased to be able to demonstrate our technology at SPIE, which is one of the industry’s leading meeting places for scientists and engineers from industry, military, government agencies, and academia throughout the world,” said Tom Nugent, president and co-founder of LaserMotive. “Not only does our technology enable electric aircraft to be recharged in flight, but it also has the potential to extend their abilities, improve their endurance and enable new missions. It is especially viable for high-altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial vehicles and other types of aircraft that need power over a long period of time.”

Headquartered in Kent, Wash., LaserMotive is a privately-held R&D company specializing in laser power beaming for commercial applications. The company was co-founded in 2006 by Dr. Jordin Kare, one of the foremost experts on laser propulsion, and Tom Nugent, former Research Director for LiftPort Group. Its industry partners include some of the leading companies in aerospace and lasers, including The Boeing Company, DILAS, MS Kennedy, Ophir Spiricon, Zaber Technologies, and In-Tec. For more information, including a white paper on LaserMotive’s UAV strategy, please visit the company website at www.lasermotive.com.

LaserMotive will be pitching to investors at the Space Angels Network (SAN) in Los Angeles and Palo Alto on March 31st. The event is open to accredited investors only. Contact SAN for more information if you qualify.

After a short hiatus, we’re back to blogging.  We’ve had a very busy past few weeks (including a trip to Washington DC). In D.C., we had meetings with a variety of organizations (both in the private and public sectors) about our technology and its uses.  We can’t name names at this point, but there is potential there for contracts utilizing our technology in a range of markets.

In addition, we attended the AUVSI Program Review Air Day. We made some good contacts and learned quite a bit as well. LaserMotive also presented to a group at the Pentagon, as well as presented to a defense venture capital group that was were very interested. During all this, we continue work on our entry for the next Power Beaming Competition to be held later this year. Although the dates are still tentative, we expect that this should take place in the second or third quarter of this year.  We’ll share more details as we learn them.

We continue to focus on laying the groundwork for our next level of growth in the upcoming weeks.  All in all, we’ve taken significant steps and made significant contacts in this direction in the past weeks that we believe will come to fruition in upcoming weeks and months.

Dave and I are at Photonics West this week, our first time at the show. (Jordin has attended many times in the past, but couldn’t make it this year.) While the number of booths visited at a trade show is certainly not the best way of measuring “success” when visiting exhibitors (i.e., potential vendors or partners), it’s an easy way to count. So, here’s a bit of trade show math about our progress through the exhibits. There are roughly 40 ‘rows’ of booths (with up to 40 booths per row; those rows with extra large booths reduce that number), spread across two halls at the Moscone Center. We will have at most ~19 hours (spread across three days) to visit the exhibits. That translates to visiting ~2.1 rows per hour if we wanted to see every single booth, however briefly.

On our first day, we did roughly 7 rows in 7 hours, i.e., 1 row/hour. This rate was much below the required average. Why so slow? Dave describes it as the “kid in a candy store” effect — there was so much to see and so many people to talk to, we spent a lot of time talking with vendors at lots of booths.

Today (day 2), we were more aggressive, and wound up covering 17 rows in 7 hours, or ~2.4 rows/hour (even with taking time to say hello to many of the sponsors of Team LaserMotive). That’s a little better than the ‘required’ average, but leaves 16 rows for the last day, a day when we will also be leaving early to catch a plane. In order to cover everything, we will need to average 3.2 rows/hour. Certain categories of product are represented by LOTS of businesses, so now that we’ve seen some of them we can breeze by others. But I suspect we’ll be sprinting down the last few rows before we head to the airport Thursday….

At LaserMotive, work is well underway for our entry in the next NASA sponsored Power Beaming Competition. Nothing is official yet, but it’s looking like the competition could happen in the May/June timeframe, and this year’s competition features a purse prize of $1.1 million.

“Our new climber must be significantly lighter than our successful 2009 version that won that year’s NASA Centennial Challenge for power beaming,” says LaserMotive’s Steve Burrows. “This is no easy task since that version was very light weight already!”

According to LaserMotive, the simplest way to make things lighter is to make them smaller, so most of the drive mechanism in the new version is about 30% smaller.

The first part LaserMotive is making is a wheel hub for the tire that grips the suspended cable. This part is made out of lightweight aluminum. First it is turned in a computer controlled (CNC) lathe to the exact profile LaserMotive designed.

Next the part is milled, drilled, and tapped, so other parts can attach to it with screws, in the large CNC mill (hub outside mill). The part is carefully checked to make sure it is exactly as designed.

It takes about six hours to program and make fixtures before parts like this come out of the machines. Once they are running, it takes only a few minutes for the CNC machines.

Molding the tire material to the hub is the last step, which will happen soon. Here’s the hub after being anodized, ready for the tire material to be molded to it.

We will post more about the competition as we receive any news.

As we move into 2011, we have a lot to look forward to at LaserMotive. Lasers themselves continue to get better. There is increasing knowledge of what power beaming is, and thus more opportunities for potential contracts for us. 

Specifically, we hope to see the following at LaserMotive in the upcoming year:

• We’ll continue to demonstrate our laser power beaming technology for new applications and with even better performance. In 2011, however, we’re looking at making at least some of these demos into paid projects specifically contracted by customers.
• We’re looking to participate in the next running of the NASA Power Beaming competition, and while not official it seems it might happen in May or June. The possibility of winning the remaining $1.1M purse prize and the potential infusion of additional capital would provide additional funds for our R&D work and thus further the development of the technology.
• In the meantime, we’re continuing our work on private fundraising efforts. We can’t offer more specifics in public, however, we believe our successes in awards and competitions, such as our performance at the MIT Enterprise Forum of the NW Startup Demo, and in the NWEN First Look Forum (where voting was done exclusively by leaders from the investment community) brings credibility to our business plan.
• We’ll be exhibiting at two trade shows this year (SPIE Defense, Security & Sensing in April, and AUVSI in August).
• We will continue making presentations a priority this year as well. So far, this includes the Space Power Systems Conference, the International Society for Beamed Energy Propulsion (both in April), and the AUVSI Unmanned Systems conference in August, and we have hopes to do more.

As we move forward this year, we look forward to working with our partners, friends and customers as we strive to turn the potential of laser power beaming into commercial reality. Finally, stay tuned to this blog, our Twitter feed or our Facebook page for more frequent updates than we had in 2010!

In the closing moments of 2010, not only does the year mark the end of the first decade of the 21st century, but a milestone year as well for LaserMotive and the development of laser power beaming. From an array of industry awards to record breaking laser powered helicopter demos, 2010 has been an important and pivotal year for LaserMotive in our quest to commercialize the wireless transfer of energy via lasers.

From the start of 2010 and just on the heels of its win in the NASA-sponsored Power Beaming Competition (bringing home a purse prize of nearly $1 million), LaserMotive has garnered a number of business and technical achievements throughout the year that we believe will lay the groundwork for even greater ones in the upcoming year. Among the highlights of 2010 are:

• Starting the commercialization of laser power beaming, as LaserMotive used some of the NASA prize money to hire two team members full time.
• Release of our white paper on power beaming to UAVs, which garnered a surprisingly large amount of publicity.
• Attendance at AUVSI trade show in August, along with our public demo of the laser-powered micro-helicopter, flying for as long as 6 hours at a time and setting a record.
• Demo in October of a free-flying laser-powered quadrocopter, barely 2 months after meeting our partners in the endeavor (Ascending Technologies), and setting a number of technical records in the process.
• Receipt of a variety of industry awards, including Seattle Business Magazine’s “Innovators of the Year,” the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum, and winners of the MIT Enterprise Forum’s NW Startup DEMO.

There was lots of work that generated interest from potential customers and partners. We can’t say much about those discussions at present, but hope to be able to share more with you in 2011 as these relationships come to fruition.

We’d like to thank all of you for your support in the past year, and wish you the very best in the upcoming New Year!