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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.
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Positrons for a Manned Mars Mission
Positron propulsion systems improve engine performance, making them an attractive
substitute for chemical and nuclear systems for manned exploration of the planets. One
of the boldest challenges is a manned mission to Mars. Onboard propellant requires an
overall interplanetary system mass that prohibits use of any type of existing launch
vehicle, including the Saturn V. The need to protect astronauts from radiation hazards
in space inhibits use of low-impulse interplanetary trajectories to reduce propellant
mass. Missions must be established that can transport astronauts to Mars in less than
180 days.
Demands on a positron engine to get from LEO to Mars are based on two parameters:
mass of the spacecraft after burnout and the tiV provided by orbital mechanics. Efforts
to minimize burnout mass for a positron-based rocket spacecraft prompted examination
of previously designed systems. The NASA Mars Exploration Study Team studied such
systems in 1997-98. 49, so
Conclusions reached by NASA and adopted for this study include:
• To make the Mars mission econom ically feasible, multiple payloads should be
launched to Mars instead of a single, "all-in-one" vehicle. This keeps payload masses
within reach of existing chem ical launch systems .
• A solid-core nuclear-thermal rocket (NTR) was studied. The study adopted existing
NERVA rockets with l sp = 900 seconds and a core temperature near 2,800 °c. The
1993 study examined 15 kilopound-force klbf and 20 klbf rockets. 51
• Each launch had a payload consisting of the NTR with its Mars payload.
• Unpiloted cargo was sent on a low-energy ("C3") Hohmann-type transfer, generally
the slowest means of reaching Mars.
• The Mars excursion vehicle should be sent on a "fast transit" to Mars from LEO. A
fast, 180-day mission would not require artificial gravity on the spacecraft to protect
astronauts from weightlessness .
• The Earth return vehicle (ERV) sits in Mars orbit at 250-km periapsis and wa its until
astronauts have docked from Mars using a liqu id oxygen (LOX)/methane propulsion
system. The ERV uses a chemical propulsion system to return home to avoid use of
a fission-based propulsion plant in the atmosphere.
• Minimization of tiV to Mars is performed by launching during estimated planetary
conjunctions (every 778 days) and by using aerobraking.
• Aerobraking uses the chemical propulsion system of t he cargo vessel or lander.
Payload is jettisoned from the NTR system (called the trans-Mars insertion system
[TMI]) sometime during the trip to Mars.
• To reduce the probability of impact with Earth, an additional tiV is given to the TMI
stage after the payload has separated.
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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.