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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 21 November 2010, was produced in FY 2010 under the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It reviews propulsion concepts that use plasmas and magnetohydrodynamics. It finds the Ajax MHD energy bypass concept meaningless below Mach 12 but calls a reverse energy bypass with a Virtual Cowl potentially practical. It also predicts that electric propulsion will become standard for spacecraft.
“Machen”1 page
UNCLASSIFIED/ ;Pell 9P'P'U!l1ltle l!l!ii& lilllle'f Another operational option enabled with electric systems is to fly at much lower obits where drag forces would normally cause the spacecraft to reenter in a short period of time. An air-breathing electric thruster can be used for drag make-up without the need for additional propellant. 51 Nuclear fission power systems coupled with electric thrusters enable new capabilities. Nuclear space reactors have been flown in space (SNAP-l0A by the United States and TOPAZ reactors by the former Soviet Union). 52 The SP-100 system shown in Figure 12 53 was being developed in the 1990s as a tug to move spacecraft from LEO to GEO orbits. Even higher powered systems have been proposed to planetary LU L\W,\\' VIU\ UI' '!'HE ~l'-lOO~l',ILE ~llCLE,IR f'Oll'ER >;\'STEM Figure 12. SP-100 Space Nuclear Power System. Illustration of the 100 kWe SP-100 nuclear reactor. missions such as those shown in Figure 13. 54, 55 Having a nuclear vehicle in orbit also enables the beaming of power to air or ground vehicles from orbit or the use of laser and microwave weapons. Figure 13. Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) Concept Vehicles. Left is the 100-kWe Jupiter Icy Moons (JIMO) planetary spacecraft. Right is a 100-MWe-class piloted Mars vehicle. UNCLASSIFIED/P'91t 9P'P'l@IIIIL l!l9E 9HLY 24
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 32 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.