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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. 5 …much the issue, as exemplified by the Lockheed A-12/SR-71. When asked about space…
  • p. 12 …the AFFDL at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC), and the Lockheed…
  • p. 20 …This was similar to the Lockheed Star Clipper (see Figure 38). liE!l B:!lll IElill…
  • p. 42 …So both Lockheed Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas proposed a self-sustained operational system using recoverable lateral…
  • p. 51 …and logistics requirements, Lockheed, NAS-9-1422. • Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), Lockheed, NAS-9-1688. • Manned…
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but we believed new launch complexes would be required to achieve the desired launch
rates and to accommodate sustained-use vehicles.
This all seems impossible given today's launch operations and preparation time, but in
1964 it was considered possible both in the United States and in the former Soviet
Union. It appears that two known companies proposed on the MOL support system, as
shown in Figure 38. The Model 176 preliminary launches were to be on a Martin Titan
IIIC. This was adequate for testing, but the minimum launches for one year of support
of MOL was 74 launches. That 74 Titan IIICs could achieve a sustained manufacturing
rate or a sustained launch rate was not considered. So both Lockheed Aircraft and
McDonnell Douglas proposed a self-sustained operational system using recoverable
lateral propellant tanks. There were no engines on the lateral tanks as there were in
the aircraft since they were simply drop tanks.
Lockheed Star Clipper
circa 1964
~
McDonnell Douglas
Model 176
circa 1964
Figure 38. A 1964 MDC Astronautics, St. Louis, Briefing Defined a MOL Support System With 10
Launchers That Could Fly 100 Missions a Year for 15 Years. Lockheed Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas both
had candidates.
Atmospheric Variations
The published approach to determining glide range is to assume the global atmosphere
definition is a series of concentric, constant-density shells. The 1962 standard
atmosphere follows the 1959 standard atmosphere and previous standards. NAVAIR-5-
lC-59, Harold Crutchner, 28 details the Northern Hemisphere by month for every 10
degrees of longitude from 1931 to 1964. According to Crutchner, these atmosphere
descriptions were not intended to be engineering atmospheres but to be standards to
ensure that aircraft flying globally would have adequate altitude clearance. The 1962
atmosphere represents the average of all daily reports by the worldwide reporting
stations between +30 and +60 degrees latitude for the spring and fall equinox minus
one month to plus one month represented as a +45 degree average atmosphere.
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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.