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The Defense Intelligence Agency produced this reference document, dated 31 March 2010, under its Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It reviews the state of the art and likely evolution of high-energy laser weapons, including chemical, solid-state, fiber and free-electron lasers, as well as beam control and the history of DoD laser research. It concludes that electrically powered lasers could make megawatt-class weapons practical and that spacecraft laser weapons are conceivable within 20 years. It also recommends ways to protect spacecraft from laser damage.
10 10 10 UNCLASSIFIED/ /F9A: 9FFIQl.11k WE&i &•lkl/ 3~-------------------------------~ -3 -6 -15 10 .& Visible Near IR •• • • • -12 10 • ••••• •• ..• 400- 700 nm -9 10 -6 10 t -3 10 500- 700 nm 1.05μmto1.15μm 1.2μmto1.4~ .._ '--.. . 400 - 450 nm 3 10 Time (seconds) Figure 18. Single Pulse Maximum Permissible Exposure Vulnerability of Spacecraft to Laser Radiation Man-made objects in space, whether in earth-orbit or beyond and manned or unmanned, have attributes which lead to unique laser radiation vulnerabilities: • Whole-body vulnerability - Spacecraft operate in a delicate thermal equilibrium which requires maintenance of an overall, long-term temperature fairly close to 70 °F for the survival of electronics and personnel. They are heated by absorbed solar radiation, onboard electronics, mechanical and propulsion systems, internal heating systems, internal cooling systems, and any personnel on-board. Because of the surrounding vacuum, black-body radiation and material ejection are the only available methods of removing heat. If laser radiation were to permanently alter the solar absorption or black-body emission characteristics (referred to as the alt ratio) of a significant portion of the spacecraft's external surface, this thermal balance could be destroyed with slow, but catastrophic results. This damage could conceivably be inflicted rapidly from a large earth-based laser weapon, if the spacecraft were in earth orbit, or inflicted more slowly by a smaller laser weapon which was onboard a much closer spacecraft. • Alternately, if a large earth-based laser system were to flood-load a spacecraft with a total power of megawatts for a few minutes (the typical duration of a low-earth orbit pass over a fixed location on earth), the spacecraft could potentially be heated to the point of failure. 22 UNCLASSIFIED/ ,<F9A: 9FFIGIPk IP&'&i 9•1klf
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 31 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.