# Laser Propulsion!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-propulsion/441973>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 19, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-propulsion/441973 "2008-03-19T18:52:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-propulsion/441973/1 "2008-03-19T18:52:41Z")

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I worked on R&D for Laser Propulsion many years ago. I was looking through YouTube and found these clips of Leik Myrabo’s\* Apollo Lightcraft. He was a competitor, using a different system than ours, but he kept at it. I used to see him and talk with him at conferences. He co-authored a book on laser propulsion with SF author Dean Ing (who later based a novel on the concept, **The Big Lifters** ). as far as I know, this hasn’t been pursued far beyond whst’s shown here. But I could be wrong.

I pointed out to Leik that his Apollo Lightcraft looked suspiciously like one of the UFOs pictured in Donald Menzel’s (skeptical) book **The World of Flying Saucers**.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/KtH-SxqdtaA/hqdefault.jpg "LightCraft Launch Oct 2000 - laserbeam powered propulsion") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtH-SxqdtaA)

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BjndqyMkqcU/hqdefault.jpg "Lightcraft part1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjndqyMkqcU)

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Q07kZS13DEc/hqdefault.jpg "Lightcraft part2") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q07kZS13DEc)

\*The name is pronounced as if it were spelled “Lake Mirabo”. It sounds like a geographical feature in East Africa.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laser-propulsion/441973/2 "2008-03-19T19:00:11Z")

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More on Myrabo from CNN:

[http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/experience/the.bomb/route/04.white.sands/](http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/experience/the.bomb/route/04.white.sands/)

Can’t tell what he’s up to now. His site’s down. And apparently he’s almost finished a second book on it.