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.
“The Advance”13 pages
UNCLASSIFIED//rOR: orrlCIAL USE 014Lf 0.001 duty cycle, has a helical film antenna that increases its gain and doubles as a solar sail for infrequent stationkeeping maneuvers, and has a tether for coarse gravity gradient stabilization. A 50 km tether supports the feed, transmitter, and DGPS reference assembly against a counterweight. The antenna lens is 2 km x 4 km. The effective area of the array is the same as that of a 50 m diameter filled aperture. The total effective RF radiated power of the system is 3 GW peak and 3 MW average. Although specific performance calculations have not been done for this concept, these powers are so large that the radar should have the sensitivity from its location in GEO for detecting and tracking many targets simultaneously and most "low observable" targets as well because they are all designed and oriented so as to have their low observables in near-horizontal directions. Three constellations would provide essentially complete global coverage. The entire constellation weighs about 11,000 kg in GEO (this could be reduced in the future to 110 kg if Buckytubes are used to construct the system) and can be emplaced and replaced incrementally using laser powered Lightcraft launch vehicles or even small conventional launch vehicles. It could even be funded incrementally. Simple, Distributed, Hyperspectral Sensor This concept presents an unconventional method of implementing a hyperspectral sensor of great spectral and spatial resolution. Its implementation would allow the detection of very many spectral intervals simultaneously, and it has a small field of view from GEO so that the instrument can dwell on and resolve particular targets of interest. It also has a large field of regard so that one spacecraft covers a significant fraction of a hemisphere. The concept uses a Fresnel zone plate, wh ich is oriented roughly parallel to the local horizontal just below GEO. It is supported by a tether that extends well above the GEO altitude, and may or may not have a counterweight at the top end . The gravity gradient causes the ensemble to remain Earth pointing along the local vertical, with its center of mass in GEO. The Fresnel zone plate has a long focal length, and thus the surface and ring locations can be imprecise compared with conventional optics. In addition, the lens is a thin film membrane and will be light and inexpensive. It is highly frequency dispersive, and thus its focal length is a sensitive function of wavelength. Small, self-contained optical sensor nanosats are placed on the tether at many locations with each nanosat's optics filtered for response at only that narrow spectral region focused at its distance from the lens. The nanosats can transmit directly to the ground or their signals can be combined in one transceiver, also on the tether. This system has a 100 km long tether, which weighs only a few kilograms in GEO. The Fresnel zone plate is 100 m in diameter, has a collecting aperture equivalent to a 30 m filled aperture, and requires only a surface accuracy of centimeters in the visible light region. It is constructed of thin film with deposited aluminum rings and is an adaptive piezoelectric membrane kept flat by an electron beam in response to an optical figure sensor. MEMS FEEP thrusters are at the sensor's periphery for attitude control, with UNCLASSIFIED,<,<FOA QFFISIAL HSI!! 8HLY 40
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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.