Documents / Official release
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.
“Anderson”2 pages
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New devel opme nts in stab il izing and stori ng positronium atoms in a matrix of dilute
materials are encouraging . Lifetimes of 10 μshave bee n achi eved, and tens-of
millisecond lifetimes are expected in the next round of experiments. Presen t limits are
due to interactions on the wa ll s of the trap container. Application of oscillating gradient
electric fields t o the huge electric dipole moment of t he sta ble Ps atom should mitigate
this problem . With t he issue of stabi lization in crossed fields now settled, very long
lifetimes are but a matter of engineering!
1 P. A. M. Dirac, Proc. Roy. Soc. A .126, 360 (1930) .
2 C. D. Anderson, Phys. Rev . 43,491 (1933) .
3 0 . Chamberlain, E. Seg re, C. Wiegand and T. Ypsilantis, Phys . Rev. 100, 947 (1955) .
4 G. Luders, Ann. Phys . 2, 1-15 (1957).
5 P. Hil l and C. Peterson, Mechanics of Thermodynamics of Propulsion, 2nd ed., Add ison - Wesley Publ ishing Co.
{1992) ,
6 G. Herken, " The Flying Crowbar", Air and Space Magazine, Vol. 5 (#1), p. 28, April/May (1990)
( http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pl uto. html).
7 R. W. Bussard and R. D. Delauer, Fundamentals of Nuclear Flight, McGraw-Hill Book Co. {1965)
8 G. A. Smith et al., "Revolutionary Positron Conversion", Final Techn ical Report, AFRL Contract F08630-00-C-
0010, Eglin AFB, FL, March (2002).
9 0 . Chamberlain, E. Segre, C. Wiegand and T. Ypsilantis, Phys. Rev. 100, 947 (1955)
10 G. Luders, Ann . Phys. 2, 1-15 {1957) .
11 G. A. Smith et al., "Revolutionary Positron Conversio n", Final Technica l Report, AFRL Contract F08630-00-C-
0010, Eglin AFB, FL, March (2002) .
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid .
15 Ibid ,
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid .
19 Northrop-Grumman Corp : Report to Kaiser-Marquardt for HTHL blended -body SSTO eng ine, "Vision Veh icle Final
Report," April 30 ( 1998).
20 G. A. Smith et al., " A Revolutionary Positron Based SSRV Veh icle for Application to Human Exploration and
Development of Space", The Advanced Space Propulsion Workshop, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville,
AL, Apri l 2-6 (2001).
21 Northrop-Grumman Corp : Report to Kaiser-Marquardt for HTHL blended -body SSTO eng ine , "Vision Veh icle Final
Report, " April 30 (1998).
22 G. A. Smith et al., "A Revolutionary Positron Based SSRV Vehicle for Application to Human Exploration and
Development of Space", The Advanced Space Propulsion Workshop, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville,
AL, Apri l 2-6 (2001).
23 Ibid .
24 Ibid .
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid .
27 G. A. Smith, " Positron Propelled and Powered Space Transport Vehicle for Planetary Missions", NIAC Phase I
Final Report, Research Subaward No. 07605- 003-048, September 1, 2005 - March 31, 2006.
28 Ibid.
29 D. R. Koenig, " Experience Gained from the Space Nuclear Rocket Program (Rover)," LA-10062-H, Los Alamos
National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM ., May (1986).
30 G. A. Smith, "Positron Propelled and Powered Space Transport Vehicle for Planetary Missions", NI AC Phase I
Final Report, Research Subaward No. 07605- 003-048, September 1, 2005 - March 31, 2006.
31 L. E. Thode et al ., J. Propulsion and Power 14, 4 (1998).
32 D. I. Poston and T. Kammash, Nuclear Science and Engineering 122, 32 {1996).
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28 Not linked to a story yet.
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.