Pakhomov said researchers from nine nations and from various groups across the United States are reporting on the progress and promise of power beaming.
Sail beaming experiment
Next year's trial run at power beaming is slated to involve The Planetary Society's Cosmos 1 solar sail. To be launched by a Russian rocket, the sail is to settle into a 500-mile (800-kilometer) orbit above the Earth.
Once fully deployed, the Cosmos 1 is then ready to be on the receiving end of a microwave beam. That microwave energy will be transmitted spaceward via a large radio dish in Goldstone, California - a powerful antenna that's part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Network.
Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society and the Cosmos 1 Project Director, told SPACE.com: "If we can do the beamed power experiment and measure its acceleration on our Cosmos 1 spacecraft, it will be a great accomplishment for us…on the first solar sail mission to pave the way for interstellar flight."
While the push received from the Goldstone microwave beam will be tiny compared to the effect of solar radiation on the sail, the spacecraft's mission is to test the feasibility of beam-boosted sails, said Greg Benford, a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine. His brother, James Benford, president of Microwave Sciences, of Lafayette, California, is keen on the experiment too.
"The significance is that this is the first demonstration of a new propulsion method, truly 21st century, that can reach speeds far beyond the rocket," Jim Benford said.
Lightcraft shows the way
The modern history of beamed energy propulsion, tagged BEP for short, started in 1972, when Arthur Kantrowitz -- founder and CEO of the Avco Everett Research Laboratory -- first popularized the idea of laser propulsion to orbit. His research continues today as a professor at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
The BEP field has evolved from a simple vision of somehow employing a remote source to transmit energy to spacecraft in flight, into a demonstrated propulsion technology.
In one effort, small-sized "Lightcraft" have already been shot high into the air over White Sands, New Mexico desert. The test devices rode on blasts of high-intensity laser light. This progress, sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA, realized ever-increasing flight altitude records. The successful tests have helped confirm the promise that useful payloads could be delivered to low-Earth-orbit using laser propulsion.
Pakhomov points out that few advanced propulsion concepts have had successful flight demonstration. More importantly, the field of laser propulsion is not limited to just Earth-to-orbit launches, in the same way as BEP is not limited to laser propulsion. A broad range of new applications will be opened with the advancement of beamed energy propulsion research.
But there are a few catches.
Work-horse technologies
For one, the time when laser propulsion and other BEP concepts will become mature, 'work-horse' technologies depends entirely upon expanding the current level of BEP research and development. Furthermore, there's need to establish high-power BEP demonstration and test facilities. On a more global front, uniting research forces worldwide to achieve this goal is vital.
Pakhomov adds, however, that power beaming schemes and hardware needed to turn ideas into matter-of-fact propulsion are rapidly proliferating.
One only has to look at the vetting of proposals at this week's First International Symposium on Beamed-Energy Propulsion.
For example, consider a supersonic airbreathing laser propulsion vehicle advocated by Korean researchers. Then there's X-ray driven micro-ships by a Japanese team. Another suggestion by a Russian specialist is correcting satellite orbits by laser beaming.
Arguably, one of the more bombastic thoughts presented is sidetracking incoming objects harmful to Earth.
Titled the "Impact Imperative," the idea is to use laser ablation for deflecting asteroids, meteoroids, and comets from smacking into the Earth.
Intelligent combination
Leader of the proposition is NASA's Jonathan Campbell, a research scientist in the Advanced Projects Group at the Marshall Space Flight Center's new National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville. An up-front disclaimer, Campbell adds, is that the opinions expressed are not necessarily the official position or policy of NASA.
"Preventing collisions with the Earth by hypervelocity asteroids, meteoroids, and comets is the most important immediate space challenge facing human civilization. This is the Impact Imperative," Campbell and several research associates suggest.
It is clear that big and small objects hitting our planet can do serious damage.
Can anything be done about this "fundamental existence question" facing our civilization? The answer is a resounding yes, Campbell believes.
"By using an intelligent combination of Earth and space based sensors coupled with a space infra-structure of high-energy laser stations and other secondary mitigation options, we can deflect inbound asteroids, meteoroids, and comets and prevent them from striking the Earth," Campbell will report at the symposium.
Space interceptors
The power beaming idea is straightforward. Just irradiate the surface of an inbound rock with sufficiently intense laser pulses so that ablation occurs. This ablation acts as a small rocket incrementally changing the shape of the rock's orbit around the Sun.
"We recommend that space objectives be immediately reprioritized to start us moving quickly towards an infrastructure that will support a multiple option defense capability," Campbell advises. "While lasers should be the primary approach initially, all mitigation options depend on robust early warning, detection, and tracking resources to find objects sufficiently prior to Earth orbit passage in time to allow mitigation."
Campbell and his fellow team members envision laser and sensor stations placed in low and high orbits around Earth, even at lunar and libration point distances. Space interceptors would tote both laser and nuclear ablators for close range work.
"Response options must be developed to deal with the consequences of an impact should we move too slowly," Campbell concludes.
Ripe for serious development
From newly fabricated ultra-tiny spacecraft thrusters to theorizing about shoving asteroids around - power beaming research is on full-throttle.
Why now and why beamed energy?
"Because 'concentrated' energy is hard to come by in space," said Jordin Kare of Kare Technical Consulting in San Ramon, California.
Kare, a noted researcher in power beaming, said this type of propulsion yields several advantages.
"Chemical fuels don't provide enough oomph for lots of things we want to do, like make single stage launchers or make fast trips to Mars. Sunlight provides plenty of energy but it's expensive to collect and use, in both dollars and mass. The only other choices we have for supplying energy in space are nuclear power and beamed energy. And even if you like nuclear power, there are situations -- like launching from the ground -- where beamed energy is the only way to go," Kare told SPACE.com.
Kare advises keeping an eye on the power beaming field.
"Because it's ripe for serious development," Kare said. "We're a long way from building a laser launcher -- though maybe not as long a way as many people think -- but we could start building space power and propulsion systems any time."
"There's lots of talk about making space flight as easy and reliable as air travel. But we can't do it with chemical rockets -- the margins are just too small. With beamed energy, you're not limited by what Nature lets you get out of chemical bonds," Kare added.
At this week's symposium, Kare is presenting his own work.
"With technology we largely know how to build today, we could make a laser orbital maneuvering system that would let us hop between orbits and go to the Moon with ease, and even send off missions to Mars," Kare said.
"Now if we could just get the Martians to build their own laser, we'd be all set."
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