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"My father was a master mechanic; I grew up with a screwdriver in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other."
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The essential problem solved by laser cannon is the transmission of power over a very great distance. Since laser light is very focused, in theory the loss of power over a great distance from the source is reduced.
It would also make a formidable weapon.
Although Larry Niven (and Jerry Pournelle) made more use of the laser cannon idea, in the sense of banks of powerful lasers, the first use of the phrase in a science fiction story was probably in The Furies, a 1965 story by Roger Zelazny appearing in Amazing Stories:
The term "laser cannon" was used earlier. In a 1962 book titled Report on Laser Design Study, we find "results of the design analysis indicate the feasibility of proceeding with the construction of a LASER cannon system at once."
Here's another quote from the Niven/Pournelle 1974 classic Mote in God's Eye:
The basic idea for the laser cannon/light sail propulsion system belongs to Robert L. Forward, who published a short paper Ground-Based Lasers For Propulsion In Space in 1961. (Read a short autobiography of Robert Forward.) Dr. Forward gives a more detailed version of the idea in his 1985 novel Rocheworld; see the entry for Interstellar Laser Propulsion System.
Leik Myrabo of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has demonstrated that ground-based lasers can be used to shoot objects into the heavens. The small model craft succeeded in reaching over 100 feet, which compares well to the first test flight of a rocket design by Robert Goddard.
Myrabo's "lightcraft" design is a reflective funnel-shaped craft that channels heat from the laser, towards the center, causing it to literally explode the air underneath it, generating lift.
For more on early uses of solar sail, see the entry from Jack Vance's Sail 25, and starlight sail (light sail) from Cordwainer Smith's The Lady who Sailed The Soul.
The idea of using light pressure to move a spaceship was suggested by Jules Verne in his 1867 novel From the Earth to the Moon; see the entry for light pressure propulsion. The method was explicitly described by Edmond Hamilton in his 1929 short story The Comet Doom; see the entry for ship propelled by light pressure.
See also the launching laser from The Fourth Profession (1971) by Larry Niven.
Compare to these propulsion systems: Light Pressure Propulsion (1867),
apergy (1880),
Beam-Powered Propulsion (1931),
Granton motor (1933),
Vibration-Propelled Cruiser (1928),
geodynes (1936),
ion drive (1947),
Planetary Propulsion-Blasts (1934),
stardrive (1953),
solar sail (light sail) (1962),
Lyle drive (1961),
laser cannon (1966),
Bussard ramjet (1976),
asymptotic drive (1976),
Interstellar Laser Propulsion System (1985). Comment/Join this discussion ( 7 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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