AAWSAP DIRD, Laser Lightcraft Nanosatellites, November 2010

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.

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storage device capable of cooling DEW systems. Their 3 MJ device is the first large
scale module capable of storing heat at a high rate as required for DEW systems, and it
stores heat at an average rate of 230 kW. Heat is stored in a 35 kg module by melting
a wax-type phase change material (see Figure 21). These materials, by themselves,
cannot support the high heat transfer rate and must be combined with other materials
to enhance their thermal properties in order to make them work. Thermal
management is one of the many challenges of the high-power BSSSL devices used in
DEW systems, which produce tremendous amounts of waste heat. Rejecting heat from
these systems in real time is not practical, making thermal energy storage a necessity.
The cost of BSSSL systems and related infrastructure are becoming competitive with
that of the proposed 10 MW electron gun-driven CO2/gas mixture lasers. BSSSL costs
are co ntinuously decreasing as their technology matures and as more systems become
widely available for testing and operational deployment. The HELLADS matched-index
of- refraction li quid cooling t echniq ue and General At om ics' advanced t hermal energy
st orage device will also dramat ically improve the cost competitiveness of BSSSL
systems compa red to all chem ical and gas dynamic laser systems by producing great er
efficiencies in solid-st ate lasing operation while at t he same time increasing t he average
beam power.
Figure 21. Phase Change Materials Allow Storage of Large Intermittent Heat Loads While
Slow Regeneration Removes Heat from Aircraft (courtesy of P. Saunders, AFRL/RDS,
Kirtland AFB, NM).
High Power Fiber Laser
From 2006 t o 2009, a newly emergent class of solid -stat e lasers, ca lled hi gh -power
fiber lasers (HPFLs), has undergone transformational innovations resulti ng in a 10-fold
increase in nea r diffraction -li mited beam out put power of a single-fiber laser operati ng
with broadband output in the 1 μm wavelength reg ion with 90% optica l efficiency, >
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