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!

Some questions you may see answered in the upcoming weeks include:

- What does “laser” stand for?
- Who came up with the first concept of laser power beaming?
- What exactly is laser power beaming?
- Why is laser power beaming important?

Submit your questions to faqs@lasermotive.com and we’ll do our best to answer them!

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.

“Laser power beaming continues to gain awareness, both with industry professionals as well as the public,” says Tom, “and the interest in the general news media at this level helps confirm this.”

In addition to WOFL, LaserMotive had meetings with select trade media during the Exhibition, including Photonics Online and Unmanned Vehicles Magazine. We’ll post more as coverage comes out.