Our most important milestone as a company in the past year was joining NASA’s “Ride the Light” project. “Ride the Light” marks our first major commercial contract to develop laser power beaming as a power source for vehicles – and with NASA no less! This project will impact our future for some time to come, too.

In addition to the “Ride the Light” project, other highlights of 2011 include:

• Another hugely successful exhibit of our technology at SPIE, including a whole exhibit space devoted to our historic free-flying quadrocopter flight at the Future of Flight Aviation Center.
• Presentation at “NASA Day on the Hill,” where we were the only private company invited by NASA to have a display booth.
• One of the key presenters at the Space Power Workshop being held in Los Angeles. LaserMotive’s Tom Nugent spoke on “Transitioning Power Beaming from Terrestrial to Satellite Applications” before this crowd of satellite power experts, which featured speakers from the leading space technology organizations in the public and private sectors.
• Major media coverage ranging from Fox News to Photonics Online.

In 2012, we will continue to pursue additional contracts – details of which we can’t discuss at present but will be sure to share when the time comes. In addition, we’re looking at the possibility of more and expanded demonstrations of our laser power beaming wireless recharging systems. We’ll let you know as we get closer and details are finalized.

Here’s to a successful and prosperous 2012!

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 .

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!

We’ll be providing more details next week!

UPDATE: Here is our press 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.

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!