Editing Beam-powered propulsion (section)

===Lightcraft===
{{main|Lightcraft}}
A '''lightcraft''' is a vehicle currently{{When|date=May 2023}} under development that uses an external pulsed source of laser or maser energy to provide power for producing thrust.

The laser shines on a parabolic reflector on the vehicle's underside, concentrating the light to produce a region of extremely high temperature. The air in this region is heated and expands violently, producing thrust with each pulse of laser light. A lightcraft must provide this gas from onboard tanks or an ablative solid in space. By leaving the vehicle's power source on the ground and using the ambient atmosphere as reaction mass for much of its ascent, a lightcraft could deliver a substantial percentage of its launch mass to orbit. It could also potentially be very cheap to manufacture.

====Testing====
Early in the morning of 2 October 2000 at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF), Lightcraft Technologies, Inc. (LTI) with the help of Franklin B. Mead of the U.S. [[Air Force Research Laboratory]] and [[Leik Myrabo]] set a new world's altitude record of 233 feet (71 m) for its 4.8&nbsp;inch (12.2&nbsp;cm) diameter, {{convert|1.8|oz|adj=on}}, laser-boosted rocket in a flight lasting 12.7 seconds.<ref>{{Citation|last=Myrabo|title=LightCraft Launch Oct 2000 - laserbeam powered propulsion|date=2007-06-27|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtH-SxqdtaA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/KtH-SxqdtaA| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|access-date=2016-12-08}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Although much of the 8:35 am flight was spent hovering at 230+ feet, the Lightcraft earned a world record for the longest ever laser-powered free flight and the greatest "air time" (i.e., launch-to-landing/recovery) from a light-propelled object. This is comparable to [[Robert Goddard (scientist)|Robert Goddard]]'s first test flight of his rocket design. Increasing the laser power to 100 kilowatts will enable flights up to a 30-kilometer altitude. They aim to accelerate a one-kilogram microsatellite into [[low Earth orbit]] using a custom-built, one-megawatt ground-based laser. Such a system would use just about 20 dollars worth of electricity, placing launch costs per kilogram to many times less than current launch costs (which are measured in thousands of dollars).{{Citation needed|date=January 2014}}

Myrabo's "[[lightcraft]]" design is a reflective funnel-shaped craft that channels heat from the laser toward the center, using a reflective parabolic surface, causing the laser to explode the air underneath it, generating lift. Reflective surfaces in the craft focus the beam into a ring, where it heats air to a temperature nearly five times hotter than the surface of the Sun, causing the air to expand explosively for thrust.