AAWSAP DIRD, Positron Aerospace Propulsion, March 2010

This Defense Intelligence Reference Document was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office and dated 2 March 2010. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications program. It looks at using positrons as fuel for air-breathing turbojets, ramjet-assisted missiles, single-stage reusable vehicles and rockets for a manned Mars mission, and it also covers positron production, costs and storage. It concludes that a first positron-powered flight around the globe could be possible within 10 years.

From the source: Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 3/2/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD examines positrons as a possible fuel for advanced aerospace propulsion, arguing that antimatter offers extraordinary energy density and could, in principle, support applications ranging from long-endurance aircraft and missiles to single-stage launch vehicles, onboard power systems, and crewed Mars missions. At the same time, it makes clear that the concept depends on resolving major unsolved problems in producing positrons in sufficient quantities and storing them safely for long periods, and much of the document’s discussion of flight systems and Mars missions remains conceptual rather than closely tied to demonstrated engineering practice. Its overall conclusion is that positron propulsion is theoretically attractive, but remains highly speculative as a practical technology because its core production and storage requirements remain unsolved.

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Figure 8. BOMARC (left) and Talos (right) Ramjet-Assisted Missiles (courtesy Boeing and the U.S. Navy)
The BOMARC range cou ld be increased to 2,000 km with 1 milligram (mg) of positrons.
In addition, positrons could act as ordnance to destroy electronics on missiles or aircraft
by electromagnetic pulse (EMP) by detonation of micrograms of positrons up to
hundreds of meters from the target. 18
SINGLE-STAGE REUSABLE VEHICLE (SSRV)
The Department of Defense, NASA, and the aerospace industry are working to eliminate
multistage rockets for access to low Earth orbit (LEO) to lower launch costs. An SSRV
would integrate components and allow more rapid turnaround on missions.
The combustion SSRV has a lower payload ratio than conventional rockets. Current
designs use combined-cycle or combination engines for the endoatmospheric phases of
the mission . Use of air-breathing engines significantly reduces propellant mass and
gross liftoff weight (GLOW). Improving payload mass requires reducing propellant and
structural mass, both of which can be accomplished using positrons as fuel.
A PTRE el iminates propellant mass during the endoatmospheric phase of operation . Any
reduction of propellant mass has serious positive effects for three reasons. First, it
allows an increased payload/number of passengers per aircraft. Second, adding
positrons on the milligram level does not change the lift requirements for the aircraft,
resulting in longer range flights, perhaps exceeding 100 kilonautical miles (kNM). Third,
the structural mass may be increased.
Tables 1 and 2 provide a mass budget comparison between a chemically fueled SSRV 19
and a positron-powered SSRV. 20
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