A Network of Microwave Beam Power Stations for Electric Aircraft in the Silicon Valley
Beaming electric power to electric air vehicles while they are in flight could overcome the lack of onboard power that is currently available from existing battery technology.
Battery technology is holding back electric air vehicles from having a payload, duration, speed, altitude and range similar to or greater than existing liquid fueled air vehicles….
However…
…it will take at least 10 years to deploy a network of beam powering stations around a region like California’s Bay Area and battery technology is likely to evolve over that same period to the point where on-board storage is at a high enough energy density to enable most kinds of all electric flight, including eVTOL.
Is it worth the investment?
This raises the obvious question, should we as a society invest the large amounts of capital that will be required to deploy a network of power beaming stations around the world or should we just wait for battery technology to evolve to the point where it is good enough to usher in the era of all electric flight?
The answer is a big YES because a power beam network can be enhanced as the technology evolves over time to transmit ever increasingly higher levels of power that could then usher in an era of new, electric powered aircraft that could transform the existing aviation industry.
For example: beaming high power levels to an aircraft while in flight, could enable a small, high-powered, electric aircraft to travel at speeds in excess of 500 miles per hour. These aircraft could fly at altitudes much greater than existing air traffic so avoid the need for exotic materials to deal with excessive heat due to the high drag encountered in the lower atmosphere. Small, beam powered, high speed, all electric aircraft could then replace existing, noisy, large, fossil fueled jet aircraft that emit large amounts of CO2 and contrails.
Is this a potential pathway that we can use to decarbonize our airline industry?
Customers dislike being crammed like sardines in a tin on large airliners that typically fly hub and spoke network routes. Given the choice, the flying public are very likely to adopt small aircraft that fly point to point as they would provide greater comfort and shorter door-to-door times than can be achieved by existing airlines, operating conventional airliners, operating a hub and spoke network.
A beam powered electric aircraft would enable small, zero emission, low noise aircraft to fly point-to-point routes that customers prefer and at the same time decarbonize our air transport system.
High power, microwave based, wireless power transfer beam technology, when applied to small, electric aircraft could transform the existing aerospace industry by replacing existing, large, fossil fuel powered airliners with small, electric powered aircraft.
High speed, point to point travel is what customers want.
A small electric aircraft with a 500+ mph speed capability would turn a Sacramento to Palo Alto, Air Metro route into a 10-minute flight, a San Francisco to Los Angeles route into a 1-hour trip or match a large airliner like the 787’s speed on a cross country, Los Angeles to New York type of route, but be way faster door-to-door for the customer.
Even across large stretches of water like the Atlantic ocean, a series of “floating” power beam stations could provide the beam power necessary for high speed, low occupancy, transoceanic electric flight. If the power beam stations are powered from offshore windmills, the two technologies would compliment each other and at the same time we can ensure that electrons used for powering transoceanic flights would come from a renewable source.
A new type of point to point, greater comfort, low occupancy mode of air travel
High speed, point to point, low occupancy, beam powered, electric aircraft could usher in a new, more customer friendly, airline system that can utilize the large number of general aviation fields all over the country.
Low occupancy, high speed, beam powered, electric aircraft in a post COVID 19 environment means we can leave the giant airport, hub and spoke airline system behind that proved so brittle in during the global pandemic and move to utilizing the 5,000+ General Aviation airfields for point to point travel that customers prefer.
All passengers can then enjoy lie flat like business class like seats on longer haul flights in high speed, small, low occupancy, low noise, non polluting, electric aircraft.
Samsonsky - Switchblade
Beam Powered Flying Cars for a Jetsons age
Beam Powered, electric flight could usher in the “Jetsons” like travel experience we have talking about since the 1950’s. An electric flying car, eliminates the multi-modal travel that we are all used to enduring with the existing airline industry model, but would abandon multi-mode travel in a micro second if a single mode form of air travel were available to make flying way more convenient.
You could imagine a trip where you drive out of your garage in Palo Alto in the evening after work on a Friday night and drive the few miles over to the Palo Alto airport in something like a beam powered version of the https://www.samsonsky.com Switchblade “Flying Car”. Then roll down the runway and set the autopilot for Paris, to settle down for a good night’s sleep on the lie flat seat of your own flying car. Cruising at 500 mph, 10 hours later and a cup to pee into, you would touch down at a small airport outside of Paris and drive the last few miles to your hotel. Reverse the process on Sunday night and you are back in your office first thing Monday morning, rested for the day ahead having enjoyed a weekend away in Paris.
Flying Car Sharing
In another Jetson like scenario, 5 technology workers living in Sacramento and working in Palo Alto, could club together to buy something like a self-driving version of the Samsonsky Switchblade “Flying Car”. The 5 joint owners/commuters would be out about $35,000 each to buy their 1/5 share of the Switchblade, which is about the same cost of a new car in the US today. Once the Monday commute is over, the “flying car” would self drive itself over and park in the next person’s garage, ready for the second person’s commute on Tuesday.
This sharing would rotate around the 5 owners until Friday when all 5 commuters have flown to work 1 day per week for about the same cost as commuting via road. These 5 flying commuters will only have a 30 to 45 minute door-to-door commute time yet be able to live in a comparatively low cost area like Sacramento while working in a high wage area like the Silicon Valley. Working in a high wage area while living on lower cost area means that housing becomes affordable for the workers. In a win-win for all stake holders, employers hiring flying commuters will not have to pay higher wages than their competitors, which can keep high cost housing area based employers like the titans of Silicon Valley, cost competitive with their competitors based in other parts of the world.
This “Flying Car” sharing agreement would enable each commuter to be able to drive/fly to work once a week in a door-to-door modality, so not have the inconvenience of intermodal travel or lack of privacy associated with transit systems. These commuter’s would be self piloting so do not incur the cost of a pilot to fly them to work and while learning to fly. They also have a great way to get their pilot hours up as well as keep their private pilot license current over the years so maximize the time spent commuting to work.
All this travel can be done without emitting an atom of carbon into the atmosphere and only at the cost in electricity that you could offset by generating the power from the solar panels installed on the top of your home.
It sounds fanciful, but sometimes you have to envision an outcome before you can set about making it become a reality.
Power Beams for drone and bird dispersion
As a side benefit of the feature that directed energy beams can be steered rapidly means they can be used clear airspace of unauthorized drones, or at low power, be used to disperse birds from an airfield.