Documents / Official release
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.
“Low Earth orbit”8 pages
UNCLASSIFIED//rOR: orrlCIAE USE O14Lf These array functions can be made coherent over very great distances. RF antennas with sizes of hundreds of kilometers and optical telescopes of hundreds of meters diameter can be formed. These systems can enable new capabilities not possible with single spacecraft either acting alone, as a proliferated but non-coherent constellation, or as relays for each other. Formed of nanosats and picosats, such swarms will contain so many spacecraft that the economics of true mass production will come into play in space for the first time, greatly reducing the cost of producing the system. In addition, these systems feature the advantages of truly distributed satellite systems, including fault tolerance, robustness, survivability, reconfigurability by software, and the ability to be incrementally emplaced and upgraded as budgets are available. These swarms can be implemented in a cost effective manner using laser propulsion for both launch and orbital insertion. However, the system designs described in the following sections are flexible enough to allow for the use of alternative conventional launch vehicle technologies. The technologies to produce these swarms and their constituent nanosats or picosats probably can be demonstrated by 2015 and deployed in space by 2020. The following concepts were provided via the voluminous research notes, lectures, and briefings provided courtesy of I. Bekey. ROTATING PICOSAT SWARM ARRAY RADIO FREQUENCY COLLECTOR An unconventional, large sparse antenna array RF collector spacecraft with a small surface footprint even when deployed in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) separates different sources in proximity and also detects weak signals. Its implementation would result in a highly desirable, long dwell RF emitter detection capability. At the heart of this system is a large antenna that is formed by a swarm of tiny elements that make up the lens of a space-fed array with no structure. The antenna is a sparse, self-cohering array formed from a large number of picosats rotating (in relative coordinates) in a plane around a central orbital point in GEO. The picosats are self-contained repeater spacecraft. Each one receives the ground signal, delays it, and retransmits the signal so that it arrives at the feeds at the same time as a direct ray through the center of the array. The time delay of each picosat is self computed based on its location in the swarm, as measured by a local differential global positioning system (DGPS)-like navigation signal, to compensate for its deviation from its assigned ideal location. Each picosat digitizes, delays, frequency shifts, and retransmits its received signals independently, causing an in-phase composite signal from the ground to be received at the feeds. The relative positions of these picosat elements change slowly, and only small and infrequent propulsive maneuvers are needed for constellation maintenance. A tether along the local vertical at the central point holds the receivers and DGPS-like reference at the focus against a counterweight. A pseudorandom distribution of the picosats suppresses the antenna grating lobes, and intensive computation greatly reduces much of the remaining sidelobes, creates multiple beams, and steers the ensemble of the individual beams anywhere on Earth. The antenna system will function with far fewer elements as a more sparse array, though with limited sensitivity. This system can be UNCLASSIFIED//FOR O61ilCl.li.k W&& 8Ptl'l 37
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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.