H-Ray? Is that like the plasma laser propultion systems?
Franklin Mead, project manager, for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Propulsion Directorate at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
"There’s a lot of historical aspects to this work. We’ve done things that nobody else has ever done," Mead told SPACE.com.
Over 140 flights of the saucer-sized disks have been completed to date. The highest altitude reached by a Lightcraft has been 128 feet (39 meters), a record set nearly a year ago last July.
Lightcraft flights last only seconds. As the vehicle rides on the light beam, it smacks into a black-painted plywood board that is positioned over the test site.
Mead said a goal of the next tests is setting a new record.
"We’re trying to attempt something on the order of 1,000 feet (305 meters)," Mead said. Gone will be the backstop, with the Lightcraft, hopefully, speeding past its current altitude record, he said.
The new series of open-air tests is being coordinated with the Air Force Space Command, which keeps track of Earth-orbiting spacecraft. Bursts of laser light will be timed so as not to blind sensors on satellites that are passing over New Mexico, Mead said.
On the beam
Mead said another possible goal for the upcoming flights is routing the laser beam on the ground from one set of optical gear to another while the Lightcraft is in flight.
By handing off the light beam to successively larger optics, the laser energy hitting the Lightcraft can be sharply focused while the vehicle climbs higher and higher. In essence, these "beam directors" act like stages of a rocket, needed to hurl a payload toward space.
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/laser_propulsion_000705.html