Hah, oh and blind every satellite in low earth orbit sure. :-)<p>I think a better headline would be that it isn't "crazy" to suggest you <i>could</i> power an airplane with microwaves, but you probably wouldn't want to do it from the ground. Powering it from a solar power satellite has its own issues as well (it would tend to blind satellite <i>receivers</i> on the ground as the plane flew past).
Isn't cruising power much lower than takeoff power? Having enough batteries for takeoff would make these number much smaller.<p>A lower cruise speed would also decrese these numbers. There is a point in the efficiency curve when it increases the total energy used, but still decreases the power. Maybe it's not a big difference, but using the takeoff power seems unnecessarily pessimistic.
>nothing developed so far can store energy as cheaply and densely as fossil fuels, or fully meet the needs of commercial air travel as we know it<p>Nuclear? It has been researched in the past.
I have a probably stupid question, but would microwaves like this heat water in the air in any sort of substantial manner? Perhaps with negative climate effects?
Perhaps this could be solved by having the planes run at ground level, using some sort of guideway, and using either the guideway itself or overhead wires to transmit the power by direct contact?