Researchers demonstrated an unmanned aircraft powered by a ground-based laser at Osaka Dome on March 7. The researchers expect the aircraft to be used for gathering information in the event of a disaster.

This is not the first such aircraft to fly. The idea is compelling: If you can power the plane from the ground, you can keep it in the air for an unlimited time. With suitable electronics, you can have a semi-permanent ‘eye in the sky’ that can be deployed at a moment’s notice and stay in the air to provide communications or surveying of the damage.

The aircraft itself can be very simple. If you cover the bottom of a normal plane’s wings with solar panels, hit it with a laser and maybe have a small battery for takeoffs and glitches, it’s not that different to a solar-powered plane.

I’d be a bit concerned about a beam strong enough to power a plane, pointing upwards for several kilometers, though.

Well, we’ll see if this idea takes off…

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