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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 1 November 2010, was produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It describes nanosatellite technologies and proposes launching nanosats into orbit with laser Lightcraft propulsion. It also covers a weapon mission selection study and multi-megawatt laser options. The author recommends that the Department of Defense and NASA bring Lightcraft R&D back to the United States and restart the X-50LR flight demonstration program.
“The Advance”13 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'F&II. &FFUiil'°'I! l!llili a,112~· Chapter 2: Laser Lightcraft Nanosatellite Propulsion Laser propulsion is a new and exceptional method for reaching space. By launching spacecraft on a beam of electromagnetic radiation, researchers will have developed the first new method of achieving orbit since the late 1950's. In this concept, a remote or ground-based energy source, such as a ground- or space-based laser beam generator, transmits power to a spacecraft via a beam of electromagnetic radiation [1-8]. The spacecraft collects the beam energy and uses it to power the propulsion system. This concept has the advantage of using the ambient air as the working fluid in the atmosphere and carrying propellant only for use outside the atmosphere, leaving the energy source for heating the propellant on the ground. This results in a tremendous weight reduction and improved performance benefit for the spacecraft because a large propellant mass and heavy energy source are not carried onboard. The laser-propelled vehicle, called "Ughtcraft" because it flies on a beam of laser light, is designed to harness the energy of a laser beam and convert it into propulsive thrust. In the earliest laser-propelled rocket designs, beamed energy from a ground-based laser (with near-visible wavelengths) is absorbed by a heat exchanger onboard a rocket, and is transferred to a working fluid. The heated fluid (hydrogen, ammonia, etc.) then produces thrust by expansion through a nozzle as in a conventional chemical rocket. An alternative to this scheme is to use the beamed-energy to ablate an onboard solid propellant (such as Delrin) to generate thrust. However, a more recent incarnation of this concept, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards AFB, CA, is for the Ughtcraft to operate in two propulsion modes: airbreathing (detonation wave) and rocket ablation (deflagration). The Lightcraft operates in air breathing mode up to Mach 5 and 30 km altitude, and in laser thermal rocket mode (using liquid, gaseous, or Delrin ablation propellant) in space [7, 8, 9-16]. Figure 1 shows the Air Force X-25LR (25 cm diameter) Ughtcraft concept. The Air Force X-SOLR Lightcraft has twice the diameter as the X-25LR. 11 UNCLASSIFIED//F&II. &FFUilAI! l!llili 8111!1/
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 77 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.