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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIA-08-1011-001), dated 1 November 2010, was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications program. It covers nanosatellite technologies, laser Lightcraft propulsion, a weapon mission selection study and a multi-megawatt laser study. The author recommends that the Department of Defense, working with NASA, bring laser Lightcraft propulsion research back to the United States and restart the Air Force X-50LR test flight program.
From the source: Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 11/1/10, 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 laser-propelled “Lightcraft” as a possible low-cost method to launch very small satellites into low Earth orbit by using a remote high-energy laser to supply most of the propulsion energy rather than relying entirely on onboard energy sources. The report combines a survey of nanosatellite trends with a review of “Lightcraft” propulsion concepts, vehicle design, beam-control requirements, and mission studies, and argues that the most promising application is the launch of nano- or pico-satellites, especially Earth- and space-observing payloads of a few kilograms or less. It presents the concept as potentially much cheaper than conventional multistage rockets for very small payloads, while also noting significant practical constraints including strict beam-riding geometry, atmospheric losses, demanding pointing and adaptive-optics requirements, and heavy dependence on large ground-, sea-, or air-based laser infrastructure. Overall, the document presents laser “Lightcraft” as a technically plausible launch concept whose attractiveness depends on whether the supporting laser and beam-control system can be made reliable and economical at operational scale.
UNCLASSIFIED/ /fOR. 8FFl&IAk W&li ,HIia¥ plastic; fiber reinforced plastic; flat stock composite construction; and carbon nanotubes (a.k.a. "Buckytubes") or carbon nanotubes composited with other materials. The material will be selected based on mass, cost, manufacturability, ease of assembly and integration, and suitability for the space environment. Streamlin ed testing is needed for up to 100 or 1000 nanosats per mission. Performing a complete test program on each unit wou ld be prohibitively expensive and time consuming. We need to reduce the quantity of testing required while assuring product quality to meet program cost and schedule goals. Lot testing and statistical quality control methods should be developed to verify quality and structural performance by testing a small subset of the total number of nanosats. INSTRUMENTS Instruments for in-situ and remote measurements must be miniatu rized to fit within the mass and volume constraints of a nanosat. Power consumption must also be scaled down accordingly. Instrument sensitivities cannot be compromised in the process. Instrument electronics need to be combined with nanosat subsystem electronics to achieve higher degrees of integration yield ing reduced mass and volume. Instrument software will be designed to evaluate the onboard data and adjust instrument data rates and modes to efficiently capture the data of highest priority. GROUND SYSTEMS The large number of nanosats in a constellation is a challenge to the ground system in getting all of the data to the users. In a typical baseline mission, there are times when up to ten (or more) nanosats would be within communications range of a ground station at a single time. A minimal model for the ground station contacts shows that they can support a nanosat constellation with only two ground stations located on opposite sides of the Earth. The schedulers will prioritize the contacts, with the nanosats in the higher period orbits getting priority. Nanosats in the lower period orbits have more opportunities to dump their data, and therefore can have lower priority without risking any data loss. Since the nanosats are autonomous, the operations concept for a mission requi res only a few operators to determine the nanosat orbits, schedule the ground stations, and to investigate anomalies on the spacecraft. Automated systems will monitor the housekeeping data from the spacecraft and they will flag problems for the spacecraft engineers to investigate. The large number of nanosats allows the risk management to be different for this mission than for single spacecraft missions. Except for commands to initiate the data downlink, the ground system will not command the nanosats for normal operations. The only commands that the ground system sends would be program loads to resolve or work around problems and fa ilures. The large number of nanosats in a constellation is a configuration control challenge for the data tracking, the schedu les, the command loads, the science or intelligence data, and the engineering data. The ground system will use IDs, colorcoded user interfaces, and other techniques to ensure that the operators and users can keep track of the data UNCLASSIFIED//FOR 061ilCl.li.k W&& 8Ptl'l 9
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 77 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.