IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 33

Laser Rocketeer
jor din k a r e shoots for liftoff

t

Dream

Jobs

1956
born, ithaca, N.y.

ripping the light fantastic at age 14 set Kare
down a winding road to photon-powered ﬂight.
Read about it at http://spectrum.ieee.org/kare0211.

1983
Kare's sister,
Susan (b. 1954),
joins Apple's
macintosh
design team
and designs
fonts and icons
of worldwide
fame, including
the cloverleaf
image on the
command key.

1980
As self-taught
musician, he
composes,
arranges, sings,
records, and sells
cDs of folklike
music on scienceﬁction and
fantasy themes,
a genre known
as ﬁlk. He founds
Off centaur
publications, the
ﬁrst commercial
label for such
music.

1978
Earns bS in
electrical
engineering and
physics, mit.

1970
builds heliumneon laser as
high school
freshman;
goes on to win
science-fair glory.

1984
Earns ph.D. in
astrophysics,
university of
california,
berkeley.

1980s and '90s
Works as physicist,
Lawrence
Livermore National
Laboratory.

KAre: BriAn smALe; thUmBnAiLs, cLocKWise From toP: istocKPhoto; Jordin KAre (2); LAWrence LiVermore nAtionAL
LABorAtorY; Jordin KAre (2); rYAn smith/inteLLectUAL VentUres; GettY imAGes; nAsA; sUsAn KAre; istocKPhoto

1980s and '90s
Works on
clementine lunar
mapping mission,
a joint program
of NASA and
the pentagon's
Strategic
Defense initiative
Organization.

1986
Organizes
workshop on laser
propulsion at
Livermore.

1997
Sets himself up as
independent
aerospace
consultant.

2009
At intellectual Ventures, he designs
and helps to build a laser-based
mosquito zapper, which he describes in
the may 2010
IEEE Spectrum article
"backyard Star Wars."

2009
Lasermotive wins a uS $900 000
prize from Elevator: 2010, which
promotes research into Earthtethered satellites to which cargo
could crawl. Lasermotive's laser drives
a device up a 900-meter-high cable.

spectrum.ieee.org

1968
moves to
philadelphia,
where his father,
morley, founds
monell chemical
Senses center.
Earlier, he had
used young Jordin
to show that
toddlers have
taste buds inside
their cheeks.

2001
presents proposal
to NASA for "Highacceleration micro-scale
Laser Sails for interstellar
propulsion."

2006
Joins Nathan
myhrvold's ip
ﬁrm, intellectual
Ventures.

2006
cofounds
Lasermotive
in Seattle.

2010
Kare's ﬁlk song
"fire in the Sky,"
a eulogy for the doomed crew
of the space shuttle Challenger,
wins pegasus award for best
classic ﬁlk song.

fEbruAry 2011 * iEEE SpEctrum * NA

33

http://spectrum.ieee.org/kare0211 http://spectrum.ieee.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum February, 2011

IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 1
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 2
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 3
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 4
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 5
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 6
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 7
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 8
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 9
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 10
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 11
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 12
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 13
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 14
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 15
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 16
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 17
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 18
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 19
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 20
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 21
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 22
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 23
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 24
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 25
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 26
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 27
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 28
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 29
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 30
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 31
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 32
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 33
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 34
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 35
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 36
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 37
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 38
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 39
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 40
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 41
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 42
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 43
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 44
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 45
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 46
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 47
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 48
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 49
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 50
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 51
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 52
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 53
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 54
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 55
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 56
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 57
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 58
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 59
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 60
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 61
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 62
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 63
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - 64
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum February, 2011 - Cover4
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