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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.
“Sea”14 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/,'rOR: orrlCIJ!tL USE 014Lf Inertially Stabilized Pointer/Tracker Mount .0.,. • ... sensor.... -· en or_-:.-.·.- . - .•_\ .e error·· ·· ··· ·· 0 target GimbaJ To achieve the high prec1s1on required for a HEL Weapon , The sensor and Beam Expander must maintain precise alignment Figure 34. HEL Beam Pointer/Tracker (courtesy of the Directed Energy Professional Society). In summary, this new architecture has only the HEL module and the beam director. All the measurement and correction functions are integrated into the beam director without increasing the number of high power components usually required in a coude path.§§ The three major advantages of this architecture are as follows (see Figure 35): *** • Minimizing complexity and component count: The optical control architecture has far less than a dozen mirrors plus a turret window and two polarizers between t he HEL module and the target. The resulting beam line is considerably simpler, smaller and lighter than current architectures. Almost every component in the beam line performs multiple functions, t hereby dramatically reducing the component count. There is only one long-burn DM, one coarse steering mirror (CSM), one FSM, and all of these are integrated into the beam director. This approach also packages all beam control sensors, processors and drivers into the turret assembly. • End-to-End Boresight and High-Bandwidth Tracking: In this design, the HEL and track illuminating laser (TILL) trackers are integrated onto the same focal plane §§Coude is French for "elbow," meaning a beam of light is bent in a zigzag manner through an optical train. *** D. Kiel, Directed Energy Systems Symposium Short Course, Naval Post-Graduate School, Monterey, CA, 2010 . UNCLASSIFIED//FOR 061ilCl.li.k W&& 8Ptl'l 65
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 77 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.