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Defense Intelligence Reference Document Space Access Where We ve Been And Where We Could Go

Defense Intelligence Agency · 56 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency and dated 8 March 2010, was produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It gives a historical and technical review of how to reach space and return. It covers hypersonic gliders, air-breathing and rocket propulsion, thermodynamics and materials, and launch options. It argues that reliable, schedulable access to low Earth orbit is mainly a hardware and propulsion problem rather than a technology one.

  • p. 20 …At the time, the launch vehicle would have been a Martin Titan IIIC. Had an engine…
  • p. 42 …The Model 176 preliminary launches were to be on a Martin Titan IIIC. This was adequate…
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forced HTO mode would instead have a gross weight in excess of 1,000 tons. so the
resulting observation was "See! Air breathers are not lighter than all-rocket!" And so
the rocket proponents have defeated an air-breathing solution since the first aerospace
plane in 1958.
Launch Options
Previously, an option was presented for a mobile launch platform that was limited to an
11- to 12-metric ton (24,225- to 26,460-lb) payload. This section presents a
conventional vertical launch site that provides for frequent, scheduled launches and no
intrinsic payload weight. In a discussion with the author, Lozino-Lozinski questioned
the practicality of the NASP, describing it as nothing more than a very large orbital-
entry-protected propellant tank. His approach was to minimize the volume of
propellant tanks that required orbital-entry protection. Prior to meeting DARPA's
Robert Williams, the MDC had the same philosophy, as shown in Figure 35.
2,370,000 lb
\
\ 512,000 lb
SSTO
814,500 lb
301,000 lb
I\
.:::,. ~"' \
1 1/2 Stage
580,000 lb
"1,,:0,...
1,
/ \\
__'-·t:(J
),
'/" ., •r
2 Stage
500,000 lb
Figure 35. Propellant Tanks That Are Not Reentry Vehicles Greatly Reduce System Weight. Venture star
orbital maneuver rules.
This was the MDC manned aerospace vehicle approach we briefed before the NASP.
The size, thermal protection system surface area, and weight of the SSTO vehicle to
just a stage-and-a-half concept is significant. All of the booster segments were fully
recoverable and reusable with rebuilding. The cargo capsule was not recoverable. This
operational concept envisioned frequent, scheduled launches at least equal in number
to those of the 1964 MOL support launcher-that is, 100 to 150 launches a year.
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 56 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.