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Defense Intelligence Reference Document Laser Lightcraft Nanosatellites

Defense Intelligence Agency · 77 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 8 …The sensor must be capable of detecting Earth over a range of orbital radii with a…
  • p. 17 …For the purpose of this report, we envision a Lightcraft Earth-to-Orbit (ETD) transportation system…
  • p. 34 …not only placing nanosats into LEO at low cost (Figure 14), but also for performing much…
  • p. 42 …Each picosat is gravity- gradient stable, has a dipole array facing Earth, and a broader beam…
  • p. 43 …811L¥ push broom scanning mode for complete Earth coverage rather than only sampling coverage. The constellation…
  • p. 72 …The system is single-stage-to-orbit and completely reusable with no onboard propellant required (the…
  • p. 75 …J., et al. (1991), "System Requirements for Low-Earth-Orbit Launch Using Laser Propulsion," in Proc…
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and are controlled by a single FSM which is also the primary mirror and DM. This
eliminates the traditional split between local and target loop stabilization,
combining both into a single controller. This is accomplished so that the high-
power path is minimized to its fundamental limit of six mirrors, which are
necessary to get the beam from the HEL module through the coude path and out
through the exit aperture of the telescope.
• Eliminating the BILL (see Figure 36): The BILL is a solid-state, kilowatt-class laser
that measures atmospheric conditions, allowing the beam and fire control
systems to compensate for atmospheric turbulence that the HEL beam would
encounter in its path to a target. The beam from the BILL bounces off the target
and returns to the HEL source, where optical and software equipment measures
the amount of distortion in the atmosphere between the HEL source and the
target. The HEL adaptive optics system compensates for the distortion using a
deformable mirror. Thus, eliminating the BILL was a very important innovation
towards decreasing the number of high-power components required in the coude
path.
Basic Shared Aperture Beam
Control System
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i Sources of Noise & Jitter
it'' - -I Laser I • Platform v,brat,on
•Target Sc,ntillat,on
' • Wind and platform ,nduced
' v,brat,on on dorector
Gimbals • A!mosphenc Turbulence
C41 System • Excess Mechan,cal Tolerances
Control I • Latenc,es & inadequate
bandwidth ,n tracker loop
IOvercomes many of the alignment issues with a dual aperture system I
Figure 35. Basic Shared Aperture Beam Control System (TILL= Track Illuminator Laser; C4I
= Command, Control, Computing, Communication & Intelligence equipment) (courtesy of
the Directed Energy Professional Society).
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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.