Third International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion

Beamed Energy Propulsion (BEP) is an enabling technology that radically transforms the future of air and space transportation: the vehicles are driven by power beamed from a remote, highly reusable source. BEP technology exploits a variety of directed energy sources - laser, microwave and x-ray radiation or relativistic particles and multitude of propulsive mechanisms: shock waves, ablation, photon pressure, vaporization and desorption. In spite of this plurality, BEP systems have one important feature in common: they provide unique propulsive characteristics which would be impossible to achieve by means of traditional, combustion-based engines. Vehicles driven by BEP will be smaller, lighter, faster, and more efficient than any currently existing means of transportation.