Documents / Report
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/ /f8R 8PPICllltt "91! one I Chapter 3: Laser Lightcraft Weapon Mission Selection Study The objective of the Froning and Davis [26] study was to examine crucial future Air Force launch vehicle missions and select at least one that might be performed very cost-effectively by Lightcraft vehicles powered by beamed electromagnetic energy from airborne or ground/sea-based lasers. It entailed identification and analysis of promising launch vehicle missions for laser-propelled Lightcraft, and assessments of the identified and analyzed missions by experts in the mission areas. See Figure 14 and Figure 15 for Lightcraft missions that have been identified and explored. It was concluded that the most promising Air Force mission for a laser-propelled Lightcraft is the placement of Earth and space observing nanosats of up to 3 kg mass into LEO. Such a laser-propelled Lightcraft would also serve as a "Lightsat," because it would use the Lightcraft's laser propulsion optics as a telescope for observing military targets on Earth and in space. Additional estimated mass for performing the Lightsat function is no more than about 1 kg, if the Lightcraft forebody structure panels can be unfurled in orbit and used as solar power collectors. Such a Lightcraft system appears capable of reaching LEO at 1/Sth to 1/lOth the cost required for placing a similar Lightsat system into LEO using multistage chemical rocket systems. Ground-to-Space (Earth-to-Orbit) / / / t:l / Pico or Nano Satellites Figure 14. Ground/Sea-to-Space Concept: Appropriate rotation of a high-energy laser beam, emanating from a ground/sea-based laser, guides and propels an integral Lightcraft pico- /nano-satellite along an ETO ascent path until orbital conditions are reached, or until beamed laser energy can no longer be transformed into Lightcraft thrust [26l. 27 UNCLASSIFIED//FQA: QFFI&l11J.k W&liii a•aklf
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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.