Documents / Official release
This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 8 March 2010, was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports. It surveys the history of space access concepts, covering hypersonic gliders, air-breathing and rocket propulsion, materials, launch options and operating costs. The report argues that reliable, schedulable access to low Earth orbit is mainly a hardware and organizational problem rather than a technology problem.
From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 3/8/10, 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 is a historical and conceptual survey of space access systems, contending that the main barrier to routine access to space is a failure to build durable, reliable, operational hardware and the supporting infrastructure needed for regular service to and from low Earth orbit. The report reviews earlier launch and aerospace concepts, especially reusable and aircraft-like approaches, and suggests that U.S. space access development became too strongly centered on expendable rockets derived from ballistic missiles rather than bespoke systems designed for repeated space access and payload delivery. Its central claim is that meaningful future progress will depend on creating a purpose-built space transportation infrastructure, including frequent round-trip capability and orbital support networks, rather than continuing to rely on one-off launch vehicles. Overall, the document presents a forceful case for infrastructure-first space development, though its characterization of past technological choices is more assertive than a fully neutral account of past U.S. space programming.
UNCLASSIFIED//f81l Offl@IAL WSI: &PUs.lf As per the U.S. Air Force requirements we were working with, these TAV were piloted and therefore had retractable crew stations that could provide forward visibility when permitted by thermal conditions. The launch system (see Figure 36) was adopted from the U.S . Air Force Thor IRBM launch system and from observations when the author was at Baikanour, Kazakhstan. The vehicles were in dry horizontal storage and were serviced and loaded horizontally. The hanger/shelter was rolled back for erection to vertical position and then fueled. The launch sequence was patterned atter the Baikanour Soyuz Figure 36. Simple Horizontal Integration and launch , which is 12 hours. The Thor Vertical Launch Provides Rapid Launch Capability IRBM launch sequence (LOX/RP-1) was 15 to 18 minutes. As in Baikanour, the payloads are not to be loaded into the vehicle and t hen remain there for weeks before checking out. What is loaded into the vehicle are checked-out payloads that need only to be attached to the carrying hardware. At Baikanour there were about seven pre-checked out Soyuz and Progress payloads in plastic wrap inerted with argon . The goal was to be able to launch a Soyuz launcher within 7 to 12 hours in the event of an orbital emergency. The Soyuz launchers were in dry storage and brought in on a railcar. With the Russian fully automatic checkout and fueling approach, this would certainly be possible. Figure 37 shows an artist's illustration of a TAV launch and recovery operational base. The boosters are a concept from Joe Thurgau of MDC Huntington Beach "Toss-Back" boosters that, after separation, rotate 180 degrees and fire their rocket motors to "toss back" to the launch site. An infrared guidance system steers the booster to a recover lake for a powered vertical landing (upper righthand portion of the illustration). The booster rocket engines are nongimbaled, sealed with the heat shield base. Either the 1-½ stage or the 2-stage systems could be launched. It would have even been possible to launch a booster by itself to rapidly transport it to another launch site (lower center portion of the illustration). Runways are provided for returning hypersonic gliders (upper center portion of the illustration), as well as for service and supply aircratt. Housing, maintenance facilities, and other buildings are on adjacent property. It certainly would be possible to launch this system from Vandenberg Air Force Base or Cape Canaveral, UNCLASSIFIED/ fFOlil &FFl@IAL U.!I!! t>IIL I Figure 37. A Vertical Launch Complex Provides Vertical Toss Back Booster Recovery and Horizontal Landing Facilities for the Hypersonic Gliders 34
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 56 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.