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Leik Myrabo

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki


Leik Myrabo
Leik Myrabo, 1984 (cropped).jpg Leik Myrabo, 1984 (cropped).jpg
Born
🎓 Alma materIowa State University, University of California, San Diego
💼 Occupation
📆 Years active  1960s-2000s
👔 EmployerNASA, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute[1]
Known forDevelopment of Lightcraft
Lightcraft tests at White Sands Missile Range
Lightcraft being propelled by laser

Leik N. Myrabo is an American aerospace engineer who researched beamed-energy propulsion and invented lightcraft.[1][2] An associate professor of aerospace engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he demonstrated laser-propelled flight, conducting experimental launches at the White Sands Missile Range between the 1990s and 2000s. He promoted the concept of "LightPorts" and orbital power stations for satellite launches and hypersonic passenger travel. He published in both technical and popular venues and co-authored the Lightcraft Flight Handbook, LTI-20 in 2009.

Myrabo's work also included international collaborations on laser-supported hypersonic aerodynamics with the Brazilian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. His works included theoretical propulsion concepts with hands-on engineering demonstrations, linking laboratory study to field tests. Myrabo served as a board member in aerospace and aviation-related organizations.

Academic career

Myrabo attended Iowa State University with a degree in aerospace engineering in 1968.[3][4] During his time at Iowa State in 1963, Myrabo was invited to join a research program at McDonnell Aircraft Corporation.[4] Myrabo achieved a PhD in engineering physics from the University of California, San Diego in 1976.[3] He was an associate professor of aerospace engineering[5] at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute[1] (RPI) from 1983[3] to his retirement.[6][7] At RPI, he collaborated with the U.S. Air Force on Lightcraft experiments at White Sands Missile Range, work documented in trade coverage by Laser Focus World.[8] He originated the Lightcraft research program at RPI.[8] Myrabo's professorship encompassed three engineering fields: in addition to aerospace, he also taught mechanical and nuclear engineering until his retirement.[9]

Lightcraft research and propulsion concepts

Laser propulsion was developed in early proposals and subsequent practical work including that of Arthur Kantrowitz, while Myrabo's lightcraft invention successfully implemented it.[10]:289 Myrabo invented lightcraft.[7][8][11] He initially developed the concept in the 1960s.[12] In 1983, a NASA-sponsored study authored by Myrabo at the BDM Corporation outlined his propulsion concept, which proposed using beams to ionize air in front of a vehicle to generate thrust.[13][1] According to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the technical term lightcraft is associated with Myrabo's Lightcraft Technology Demonstrator.[14]:4 Prior to 1988, much of Myrabo's Lightcraft research was "limited to paper studies", according to CNN.[5] Wired reported that he first developed the technologies that became Lightcraft in 1988.[15][5] At the time, he was working on the "Star Wars" missile defense initiative under the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.[15][5] Myrabo was identified in 2008 at the AIP Conference Proceedings as having "initiated" the concept of "repetitively pulsed laser propulsion".[2] In 2025, the journal Aerospace wrote that Myrabo had validated the Lightcraft concept by October 2000.[1] According to Aerospace, Myrabo's team deployed a carbon dioxide laser with a 10 kW pulse range, propelling a lightcraft to a height of 71 meters over 13 seconds.[1]

Lightcraft development

Lightcraft use a type of beam-powered propulsion.[16] Myrabo's original definition of lightcraft treats it as any flight platform, airborne vehicle, or spacecraft propelled by a beam of light, including microwave or laser.[14]:4 Through the late 1980s and 1990s, Myrabo refined these ideas, adapting them to the limitations of then-available laser systems and promoting variations such as beamed microwave propulsion.[13] He researched the project through the first successful launch in 1997, and participated in more than 140 test flights with various prototypes.[15] Some of Myrabo's research was conducted at the Naval Research Laboratory.[17]:44

During this period, Myrabo began experimental work at the High Energy Laser System Test Facility (HELSTF) at White Sands Missile Range and White Sands Test Center[7], where, in collaboration with the U.S. Air Force, he conducted his first outdoor Lightcraft flights.[7] Between 1996 and 2000, prototypes powered by pulsed carbon dioxide lasers reached altitudes of up to 233 feet, milestones that Myrabo compared to the modest early rockets of Robert H. Goddard.[7][9] Speaking with CNN, Myrabo compared his early Lightcraft research to the level of Goddard's own progress through 1926.[5] Science writer Paul Gilster of the The Planetary Society detailed several of Myrabo's experiments and tests of Lightcraft and related research during this period.[18]

In 1998, the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field asked Myrabo to work on development of Lightcraft with a then $50,000/year USD research grant.[19] In addition, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory granted Myrabo and a team a $1,000,000 USD program to also develop the program.[19] The Associated Press reported that Myrabo's research was also funded by the Strategic Defense Initiative, known at the time as the Star Wars program.[20] Over time, he and his partners carried out more than 140 small-scale test flights.[15] Tests at White Sands used a 20-hertz, 9-kilowatt carbon dioxide laser, with flights reaching altitudes of 75 feet in three seconds.[8] CNN in 1998 described the Lightcraft research team as composed of Myrabo, Franklin Mead, HELSTF laser technicians, and RPI students.[5]

Myrabo was later involved in further laser propulsion research at Marshall Space Flight Center.[21] According to Roger Luiden in 1998, a planning consultant at the Glenn Research Center, NASA became interested in Myrabo's ideas due to future concerns about fuel availability for spacecraft propulsion.[19] An original goal of Myrabo's Lightcraft designs was to boost spacecraft unburdened by the weight of propellant fuels.[17] In 2000, Luiden told the Associated Press that Myrabo's program has "got the potential, but it isn't been proven yet."[20] Gregory Pope, the science and technology editor of Popular Mechanics, described Myrabo as belonging to a class of engineers who "perch outside the envelope and stir up trouble."[17]:44 The DLR's Institute of Technical Physics cites Myrabo's experiments at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and a world-record Lightcraft flight as part of the backdrop for DLR taking up laser lightcraft research.[14]:2

Advocacy and predictions

Myrabo coupled this experimental program with advocacy efforts for Lightcraft.[22] He discussed variants of the lightcraft concept with Popular Mechanics in 1995, including the notion of using pulsed microwave beams from satellites to reduce drag on and propel lightcraft.[13] In 1999, he published an article in Scientific American describing his vision of ground-based "LightPorts" and orbital power stations that could beam energy to passenger-carrying spacecraft.[22]

He reiterated these claims at conferences in the 2000s, forecasting satellite launches at a thousand-fold cost reduction and predicting that by 2020 laser-powered craft could fly passengers globally in under an hour.[15][22] While his optimism drew skepticism from other aerospace engineers, he remained confident that falling laser costs and rising fuel prices would make the technology commercially viable.[9] Myrabo argued that the field had reached the threshold of commercial feasibility as laser costs fell to a few dollars per watt.[11]

International collaborations

International collaborations expanded his work beyond the United States.[13] Yuri Raizer of the Russian Academy of Sciences worked with Myrabo on his Lightcraft.[17]:44 Beginning in the early 2000s, Myrabo joined Brazilian researchers in developing the Laser-Supported Directed Energy Air Spike (DEAS) concept, which used lasers to reduce drag on hypersonic test models.[13] In 2005, their joint experiments demonstrated measurable aerodynamic benefits in wind tunnels, and by 2011 the project involved both the Brazilian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFOSR).[13] Reporting at the time described the program as part of a broader "Brazil–USA" beamed-energy cooperation.[13]

The Space Studies Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, also funded the Lightcraft program, and had Myrabo and Raizer study the option of using microwave energy for Lightcraft rather than laser-based propulsion.[17]:44 In 2010, the Journal of Propulsion and Power examined Myrabo's work, featuring commentary from the AFOSR, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and other academic facilities.[13]

Publications and partnerships

Myrabo summarized three decades of research in the 2009 book Lightcraft Flight Handbook, LTI-20, co-authored with John Lewis.[11] In addition to his faculty role at RPI, Myrabo founded Lightcraft Technologies, Inc., in Bennington, Vermont, to pursue experimental validation of beamed-energy flight.[1][11] Myrabo and Lightcraft Technologies hold the Guinness World Record for laser powered altitude, achieved on October 2, 2000.[23]

Later, Myrabo partnered with senior scientist Franklin Mead of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate at Edwards Air Force Base in California.[8] By the late 2000s, he had been active in laser propulsion research for more than two decades, presenting his work at international aerospace forums.[15] Wired noted that Myrabo considered jet propulsion outdated technology and was puzzled by the lack of excitement around laser-based propulsion.[15]

Professional leadership

In 2003, while based in Bennington, Vermont, Myrabo was elected the first president of the newly created International Society for Beamed Energy Propulsion (ISBEP), established to promote global collaboration on beamed power research and applications.[21] He described beamed energy propulsion as an emerging worldwide enterprise with the potential to transform both terrestrial transportation and access to space.[21]

His election followed years of laboratory and field work, including an October 2000 test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, where a Lightcraft set an altitude record on a column of laser light, which he presented as a validation of laser-propelled flight.[21] He argued that further progress required converting large lasers and microwave generators already in operation into shared-user facilities for propulsion experiments.[21]

He pointed to work at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and proposed additional proof-of-concept efforts, such as using a small orbital laser platform to accelerate a vehicle in space.[21] He also stressed the need for improved flight control—likening it to the Wright brothers' innovations—as critical for reaching greater altitudes with power beaming.[21]

Myrabo argued that existing physics and technology could enable a step change in propulsion by moving beyond chemical fuels to much higher energy densities.[21] He predicted that future vehicles would surpass contemporary aerospace performance and eventually permit rapid global travel, routine orbit transfers, and transportation within the Earth–Moon system.[21]

Personal life and activities

Sioux City Symphony conductor Leo Kucinski was Myrabo's stepfather, and his mother is Lenore Kucinksi.[24] Myrabo is married to Christie, an environmental biologist.[25] As a teenager, Myrabo developed a lifelong interest in flying fixed-wing model airplanes.[6] He later expanded to quadcopter drones and first-person view remote flying, and as of 2016 was president of the Eagle's Eye FPV Club at William H. Morse State Airport in Bennington.[6]

Through the 1980s, Myrabo and his family ran Wind Mist Farm, developed with staff and students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to operate with a passive solar building design.[25] The Myrabos ultimately sold the farm when their careers relocated to Washington, D.C.[25] Myrabo served as co-chair of the Whipstock Hill Preservation Society in Bennington.[26]

Affiliations and memberships

Myrabo is a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).[27] In 2021, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association listed him as an active major in the Vermont Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP).[28] He is also an officer in the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) and has tested NIST drone and aerial robotics programs in his CAP role.[28]

Selected publications

Books

  • Myrabo, Leik N.; Ing, Dean (1985). The Future of Flight. New York:[Bean Enterprises.[14]:16
  • Myrabo, Leik N.; Lewis, John (2009). Lightcraft Flight Handbook, LTI-20. Bennington, Vermont: Lightcraft Technologies, Inc.

Conference proceedings

  • Myrabo, Leik N. (2001). "World Record Flights of Beam-Riding Rocket Lightcraft: Demonstration of Disruptive Propulsion Technology". 37th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
  • Kenoyer, David A.; Salvador, Ignacio I.; Myrabo, Leik N. (2011). "Beam-Riding Behavior of Lightcraft Engines with ≈ 1 μs Pulsed TEA CO₂ Laser". AIP Conference Proceedings. [14]:16

Journal articles

  • Wang, T.-S.; Chen, Y.-S.; Liu, J.; Myrabo, Leik N.; Mead, Franklin B. Jr. (2002). "Advanced Performance Modeling of Experimental Laser Lightcraft". Journal of Propulsion and Power. 18: 1129–1138. [14]:16

Technical reports and contractor studies

  • Myrabo, Leik N. (1983). Advanced Beamed-Energy and Field Propulsion Concepts. NASA Contractor Report NASA-CR-176108. Braddock Dunn & McDonald Corporation for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Filmography

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Li, Sai; Du, Baosheng; Cui, Qianqian; Ye, Jifei; Cui, Haichao; Gao, Heyan; Wang, Ying; Zheng, Yongzan; Han, Jianhui (2025). "A Review on Liquid Pulsed Laser Propulsion" (PDF). Aerospace. MDPI. 12 (7): 2, 24. doi:10.3390/aerospace12070604. Archived from the original on 2026-02-07. In 1983, Professor Myrabo of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute proposed the concept of light-powered flight [7]. By October 2000, Lightcraft Technologies Incorporated, founded by Myrabo, validated this concept. Using a CO2 laser with a pulse average power of 10 kW, the team launched a lightcraft with a 12.2 cm diameter and 50.6 g weight at White Sands Missile Range. The craft reached a height of 71 m and flew for 13 s [8]. This experiment highlighted PLP’s potential as a promising propulsion technology with many advantages over conventional methods [9,10]. Unknown parameter |article-number= ignored (help)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Birkan, Mitat (2008-04-28). Beamed Energy Propulsion: Research Status And Needs—Part 1. AIP Conference Proceedings. 997. American Institute of Physics. pp. 3–16. doi:10.1063/1.2931910. Archived from the original on 2026-02-06. Currently AFOSR has been funding the concept initiated by Leik Myrabo, repetitively pulsed laser propulsion, which has been universally perceived, arguably, to be the closest for mid-term applications.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Leik N. Myrabo, Associate Professor, Jonsson Engineering Center". Jonsson Engineering Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Archived from the original on 2001-11-26. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "I.S.U. Aerospace Students in Program". Sioux City Journal. 1963-05-25. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Walton, Andy (May 1998). "Beam me up? "Star Wars" lasers could make light work of launching future satellites". CNN. Archived from the original on 2000-08-23. Myrabo, an aerospace engineering professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) of Troy, New York, first had the idea for the Lightcraft 10 years ago. Developed as part of "Star Wars" anti-missile research, Lightcraft were limited to paper studies until about four years ago, when Myrabo and Air Force scientist Franklin Mead began trying it out. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Therrien, Jim (October 8, 2016). "Interest in drones surges in Bennington". VTDigger. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 David, Leonard (January 10, 1998). "On wings of light – Tiny spacecraft are flying through the atmosphere on beams of laser light. Leonard David reports on the start of a new age of cleaner, cheaper space flight". New Scientist. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Appell, David (February 28, 1998). "High-power laser beam launches fuel-less craft". Laser Focus World. Archived from the original on September 15, 2024. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Sauser, Brittany (August 5, 2009). "Riding an Energy Beam to Space". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  10. ↑ Michaelis, Max M.; Forbes, Andrew (July 2006). "Laser propulsion: a review". South African Journal of Science. 102 (7–8): 289–295. Archived from the original on 2025-08-22. Retrieved 2026-02-06. Myrabo’s well-publicized ‘lightcraft’ programme has extended laser propulsion to the world outside the laboratory as have recently developed laser micro-thrusters. In this first section, we review the somewhat utopian early proposals of Saenger, Marx and Forward. This is followed by the more down-to-earth work of Moeckel and Kantrowitz.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 David, Leonard (July 29, 2009). "Laser Propulsion: Wild Idea May Finally Shine". Space.com. Archived from the original on January 24, 2011. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  12. ↑ Aaron, Kenneth (2004-12-02). "Lasers could someday beam you up, up--and away". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 "The Drive: Blasting The Air In Front Of Hypersonic Vehicles With Lasers Could Unlock Unprecedented Speeds". Mackenzie Institute. September 26, 2020. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 Scharring, Stefan; Eckel, Hans-Albert (22 April 2014). Review On Laser Lightcraft Research At DLR Stuttgart (PDF). HPLA/BEP 2014 (International Symposium on High Power Laser Ablation / Beamed Energy Propulsion). DLR eLib. Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States: German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Technical Physics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-05-26.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 Demerjian, Dave (February 20, 2009). "Laser-Powered Aircraft Are The Future of Flight. Maybe". Wired. Archived from the original on August 3, 2014. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  16. ↑ Myrabo, Leik N. (July 8–11, 2001). World record flights of beam-riding rocket lightcraft: Demonstration of "disruptive" propulsion technology (PDF). 37th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit. Salt Lake City, Utah: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi:10.2514/6.2001-3798. AIAA 2001-3798. Retrieved October 23, 2025. LTI defines a Lightcraft as any flight platform, airborne vehicle, or spacecraft designed for propulsion by a beam of light - be it microwave or laser.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 Pope, Gregory T. (September 1995). "Fly By Microwaves". Popular Mechanics. pp. 44–45. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  18. ↑ Gilster, Paul (2016-06-24). "A Photon Beam Propulsion Timeline". Centauri Dreams. Archived from the original on 2019-09-21. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Bauder, David (1998-04-01). "Scientist's dream for space users 'beamed' energy". Staten Island Advance. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Researcher makes light of promise to fly us to the moon". Press & Sun-Bulletin, Associated Press. 1990-02-05. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.7 21.8 David, Leonard (November 26, 2003). "Beyond the bounds of gravity". NBC News. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Greenmeier, Larry (February 23, 2009). "Are laser-powered spacecraft just a shot in the dark?". Scientific American. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  23. ↑ "Laser powered altitude record". Guinness World Records. 2000-10-02. Archived from the original on 2025-07-09. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  24. ↑ Patterson, Mike (1998-02-10). "Rites Today for Sioux City 'Music Man'". Omaha World Herald. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Mula, Rose (1983-10-14). "Dream House Can Become Reality". Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  26. ↑ Kelly, Matt (1994-12-31). "Wetlands to be mapped". Bennington Banner. Archived from the original on 2026-02-04. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  27. ↑ Therrien, Jim (July 25, 2025). "Officials receive feedback from Morse Airport users, others". Manchester Journal. Archived from the original on September 5, 2025. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Moore, Jim (July 1, 2021). "Thumbs Up: There's a way you can if your digits measure up". Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Archived from the original on June 9, 2021. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)

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