launching laser n.

a high-powered laser used for the launching of spacecraft, either by vaporizing propellant at the rear of the craft, or by radiation pressure on a solar sail n.

  • 1971 L. Niven Fourth Profession in 1972 Annual Worldโ€™s Best SF (1972) 23 page image Larry Niven bibliography

    You donโ€™t have to depend on sunlight, not if youโ€™re launching from a civilized system. Every civilized system has a moon-based launching laser. By the time the sun is too far away to give the ship a decent push, the beam from the laser cannon is spreading just enough to give the sail a hefty acceleration without vaporizing anything.

  • 1981 V. Vinge True Names in Binary Star No. 5 179 Vernor Vinge bibliography

    As they fell deeper into the humid air of the lowlands, Mr. Slippery dipped into the news channels: word was already coming over the LA Times of the fluke accident in which the Hokkaido aerospace launching laser had somehow shone on MT3โ€™s optics.

  • 1984 R. L. Forward Flight of the Dragonfly 62 page image Robert L. Forward bibliography

    The whole thousand-kilometer sail worked as a single unit and was driven by the light pressure from the launching laser.

  • 2007 A. Grossman Soon I will be Invincible 75 Austin Grossman bibliography

    When the doomsday device is unveiled, the launching laser built, the weather-controlling satellite finally aloft, the skies dancing to my whim.

  • 2012 J. C. Wright Hermetic Millennia 60 page image John C. Wright bibliography

    Just add a propulsion sail, point a launching laser and youโ€™d have a worldlet-size starship ready to launch.

Research requirements

any evidence 1971
Earliest cite

Larry Niven, 'The Fourth Profession'
Research History
Carol Phillips submitted a 1971 cite from Larry Niven's "The Fourth Profession."
Adam Buchbinder submitted a 2007 cite from Austin Grossman's "Soon I will be Invincible"
Adam Buchbinder submitted a cite from a 1987 reprint of Vernor Vinge's 1981 "True Names", which Mike Christie verified in the original.

In addition to antedatings, we would like further cites of any date from other authors.

Last modified 2021-11-05 17:06:37
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.