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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 1 November 2010, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency under its Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It surveys propulsion technologies that include chemical, ion, and nuclear fission rockets, fusion schemes, aneutronic fusion, and antimatter propulsion. It also covers radiation shielding and speculates on research needs over the next 30 years for missions from low Earth orbit to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Alpha Centauri. The document concludes that aneutronic fusion promises to be an important mechanism for future space propulsion.
“Low Earth orbit”6 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ ;<F&lil: 8FFI8Itlrt 1!181!! 8HL'f LEO to the Moons of Jupiter and Saturn (460 to 940 million miles) .................. 28 LEO to Alpha Centauri (4.22 light-years or 24.8 trillion miles) ......................... 28 Chapter 7: Conclusions ........................................................................................ 29 Appendix A: Relativistic Rockets ......................................................................... 30 Appendix B: Aneutronic Fusion Rocket ................................................................ 32 Appendix C: Antimatter Annihilation Rocket ........................................................ 36 Appendix D: Relativistic Rocket Worksheet ......................................................... 38 Appendix E: Endnotes .......................................................................................... 41 Figures Figure 1. Liquid-Fueled Chemical Rocket ........................................................ vi Figure 2. Mass Ratio Increases as Objects Approach Speed of Light ................ 2 Figure 3. Spherical Radiation Shield Surrounding Point Source ....................... 8 Figure 4. Nuclear Fission Rocket Oesign ........................................................ 11 Figure 5. Schematic Design of a Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Generator ..... 13 Figure 6. Nuclear Fusion of Deuterium and Tritium ....................................... 14 Figure 7. Low-Temperature Fusion Reactions ................................................ 15 Figure 8. Fusion Ignition Energies for 0-T, 0-0, and D-He3 ........................... 15 Figure 9. Aneutronic Fusion Schemes ............................................................ 18 Figure 10. Fusion of Hydrogen-1 and Boron-11 Produces 3 Alpha Particles .. 19 Figure 11. QED Rocket Design ....................................................................... 23 Figure 12. Time Dilation at Relativistic Velocities .......................................... 31 Figure 13. Maximum Achievable Velocity Versus Fuel Usage ......................... 33 Figure 14. Acceleration and Rocket "Clock" Ratio Vs Mission Time on Earth .. 33 Figure 15. Spreadsheet for Sample Mission to Alpha Centauri ........................ 34 Figure 16. Antihydrogen Atom ........................................................................ 36 iii UNCLASSIFIED/ ,1.ralil: 8FFI&I Ck WEliii ,u1uc
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 50 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.