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Edited by Noah Shachtman | Contact | RSS

GIANT, LASER-POWERED BLIMP

3210.jpgAirships 25 times the size of the Goodyear blimps: yawn. Airships 25 times the size of the Goodyear blimps, powered by laser beams: cool!

By 2006, the Missile Defense Agency is hoping to fly its High Altitude Airship -- a dirigible that floats at 65,000 feet, and spots attacks from up to 350 miles away. The blimp is supposed to be solar-powered, mostly. And the MDA is investing a bunch of money into new-fangled photovoltaic panels and fuel cells.

But sometimes, sunshine and fuel cells may not be enough. So the agency has hooked up Structured Materials Industries of Piscataway, New Jersey with a grant to figure out how to power the HAA by laser.

The idea -- as we discussed back in November -- is to give solar panels a source of light, even when the sun isn't out. Lasers zap in very specific frequencies -- unlike the sun, which shines all over the spectrum. And that specificity should allow the beams to deliver an ultra-efficient energy dose to the blimp's solar panels.

NASA has been doing a few experiments with this so-called "power beaming" lately, juicing up gliders with laser light. But some in the space agency think power beaming's real mission would be to provide electricity to a moon base. Or to use a series of satellites for zapping power back home. Whoa.