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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.
UNCLASSIFIED/ /FOR. errl@IAL YSI: e .. tv 1000 -E::.:. - 0.1 t = 1530 sec v = 7600 m/sec,140 km 1= 1200 sec l= 146 sec M = 1.8, 10000m M =8, 38 km I= 1650sec 300km 0 500 sec 1000sec 1500sec Time Figure 9. Positron SSRV Flight Profile (courtesy Positronics Research LLC) 23 The SSRV takes off horizontally (Figure 9) from Edwards Air Force Base, accelerates to mach 1.8 as a turbojet, and then goes to the ramjet mode . At mach 8 the rocket is ignited and takes the vehicle into LEO. 24 The positron mass budget for a 60,500-kg dry mass for ascension to LEO is 86 .9 mg (Table 3) . Table 3. Total Positron Requirement for SSRV With a Dry Mass of 60,500 kg 25 Mission Mode Mass Of e! Turbojet - Launch 2.5 mg Ramjet 76.5 mg 10% margin (turbojet mode upon 7.9 mg landing, inclination changes, etc. ) TOTAL 86.9 mg An artist's rendition of the SSRV is provided in Figure 10. UNCLASSIFIED/ /FOR 8FFI@IAL YSI!! er•tY 10
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 35 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.