World Surveillance Group Inc (fka WSGI)

[Baghdad Bob]

I was thinking of this
2003 NASA researchers flew an 11 ounce (312 g) model airplane with a propeller powered with solar panels illuminated by a laser. It is possible that such beam-powered propulsion could be useful for long-duration high altitude unmanned aircraft or balloons, perhaps designed to serve as communication relays or surveillance platforms.


Beamed propulsion in the form of laser can be used to send power to a photovoltaic panel, for Laser electric propulsion. In this system, careful design of the panels is necessary as the extra power tends to cause a fall-off of the conversion efficiency due to heating effects.