How to keep planes from colliding with lasers
NOV 05, 2009
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.023817
Wired.com : Beaming high-powered lasers into the sky allows scientists to study changing weather patterns, pollution in Earth’s atmosphere, and even gravity on the Moon. But if one of those helpful lasers happens to cross paths with an airplane, it can temporarily blind or distract the pilot and potentially cause a crash.The current method to avoid plane–laser collisions is decidedly low-tech: Federal Aviation Administration regulations require anyone who’s sending a laser up into the atmosphere to employ multiple human observers, called “spotters,” to watch for planes flying within 25 degrees of the laser beam. Now, researchers have created a radio-tracking device that can perform the same task as a pair of eyes, without the potential for human error.
© 2009 American Institute of Physics
