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Defense Intelligence Reference Document Laser Lightcraft Nanosatellites

Defense Intelligence Agency · 77 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 1 November 2010, was produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It describes nanosatellite technologies and proposes launching nanosats into orbit with laser Lightcraft propulsion. It also covers a weapon mission selection study and multi-megawatt laser options. The author recommends that the Department of Defense and NASA bring Lightcraft R&D back to the United States and restart the X-50LR flight demonstration program.

  • p. 3 …Free-Electron Laser Electron Beam Phase-Space Evolution ....................... 59 Figure 31. Recirculating-Beam FEL System ........................................................... 60…
  • p. 4 …HEL Beam Pointer/Tracker ................................................................... 65 Figure 35. Basic Shared Aperture Beam Control System ......................................... 66 Figure 36…
  • p. 7 …This can only be achieved via laser propulsion in which the laser beam energy that is…
  • p. 15 …By launching spacecraft on a beam of electromagnetic radiation, researchers will have developed the first new…
  • p. 16 …The laser beam's pulse interacts with the mirror, spreading out and focusing into an annular…
  • p. 17 …1) power supply; 2) high-power (megawatt-class) laser beam generator/transmitter using novel beam optics…
  • p. 20 …is to the right and the laser beam strikes the stretched-out parabolic mirror/propulsion section…
  • p. 21 …It requires a beam power of 0.1 to 1 MW per kg of vehicle mass…
  • p. 22 …The ground-based megawatt-class laser beam generator is state-of-the-art technology. The cost…
  • p. 25 …Figure 8 illustrates the adverse beam propagation geometry associated with ETO laser propulsion by means of…
  • p. 26 …Attenuation Effects on Captured Laser Beam Power 261. 0.4 0.J 0.2 0.1…
  • p. 27 …Unfortunately the demonstrated laser beam power levels for the attractive 1.62 μm wavelength, which suffered…
  • p. 28 …Beam combining of several 1 MW (or higher) FELs can achieve a total combined beam output…
  • p. 31 …Appropriate rotation of a high-energy laser beam, emanating from a ground/sea-based laser, guides…
  • p. 32 …Appropriate rotation and translation of a high-energy laser beam, emanating from a moving aircraft, guides…
  • p. 33 …But multiple target interception within allowable time is limited by relatively long beam- riding time needed…
  • p. 37 …In this case, it is envisioned that the high- pulsed power within high-energy laser beams…
  • p. 39 …In this case, airborne laser beams at 12 km altitude will not suffer the significant propagation…
  • p. 41 …sidelobes, creates multiple beams, and steers the ensemble of the individual beams anywhere on Earth. The…
  • p. 42 …Each picosat is gravity- gradient stable, has a dipole array facing Earth, and a broader beam…
  • p. 43 …Commands for beam sweep delays are superimposed on the time delays of each nanosat. Each nanosat…
  • p. 44 …piezoelectric membrane kept flat by an electron beam in response to an optical figure sensor. MEMS…
  • p. 46 …technical issues include large wavelength and atmospheric absorption of the laser beam. • Carbon Monoxide (CO) Laser…
  • p. 47 …125 Hz@ 20μs. • Laser power, P = 2.5 MW/beam x 4 beams = 10 MW. • Laser…
  • p. 50 …Each power oscillator optics module transmitting a 2.5 MW beam of 10.6 μm wavelength…
  • p. 52 …Adding an eight amplifier chain that the system was designed for will increase the beam power…
  • p. 53 …However, BSSSL beam power can be scaled up further by improving presently known gain media and…
  • p. 54 …scalable to 1 MW beam power within 2 years. Typical solid-state lasers have the following…
  • p. 55 …A new technology that enables the scaling-up of BSSSL beam power is a recently developed…
  • p. 56 …at the same time increasing the average beam power. Figure 21. Phase Change Materials Allow Storage…
  • p. 57 …This exponential growth in beam output power is the result of many factors, including the parallel…
  • p. 58 …Microlens -O _ ,:1 Incoherent Beam Combining 'Ind1vidually Incoherent Gaussian Beams i=L Controlled /_/Steering • ... o~bined…
  • p. 59 …Neodymium Thulium (Tm 3+), Holmium - Range of beam wavelengths(),) produced: 0.48 μm to 2.9…
  • p. 61 …Multlmode Fiber Lasers 50kW Multimode Output beam quality BPP-1 o M"2-33 DC EDE…
  • p. 62 …The resulting laser beam photon energy depends on the electron energy, the undulator period, and (weakly…
  • p. 63 UNCLASSIFIED/ /F8~ 8FFl&I.«1k WliEii a,.klf electron beam ( \ I,:--- ■■>ti■-- undulator ) resonator mirror 0…
  • p. 64 …The superconducting accelerator gives good efficiency and gradient while recirculation of the electron beam recovers beam…
  • p. 65 UNCLASSIFIED/ /F&~ 8FFHiil.«1k 1!181! &••kY - K"' 1.5.t • Electron Beam: - Photocathode injector creates…
  • p. 66 …HIGH ENERGY LASER BEAM CONTROL ··costs could be reduced to as low as $20 per kg…
  • p. 67 …The typical HEL beam control system includes:++ 1) a gimbaled beam director, 2) tracking and pointing…
  • p. 68 UNCLASSIFIED//F&II. &FFiii,111!! l!llili &HI!¥ A novel new HEL beam control architecture being…
  • p. 69 …HEL Beam Pointer/Tracker (courtesy of the Directed Energy Professional Society). In summary, this new architecture…
  • p. 70 …The BILL is a solid-state, kilowatt-class laser that measures atmospheric conditions, allowing the beam…
  • p. 71 …All of these HEL beam control innovations can be quickly adapted to laser propulsion applications with…
  • p. 72 …The entire Lightcraft launch system is comprised of a ground, sea, or airborne laser beam generator…
  • p. 73 …New beam control devices and high-power optical train combinations have a resulting beam line that…
  • p. 75 …N. (1983), "Advanced Beamed-Energy and Field Propulsion Concepts," BDM/W-83-225-TR, BDM Corp…
  • p. 76 …N. (2001), "World Record Flights of Beam-Riding Rocket Lightcraft: Demonstration of 'Disruptive' Propulsion Technology," AIAA…
  • p. 77 …of the 6 th Int'! Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion, edited by C. R. Phipps, AIP…
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Because configuration (2) has a much smaller overall energy balance than configuration
(1), it is much more sensitive to MLI properties and to internal power dissipation.
However, eclipse performance improves. During the ~ 8 hour eclipse, internal
temperatures drop by only 20°C, a marked improvement, with end-of-eclipse
temperatures well within the range of most spacecraft components. It should be noted
that the solar arrays, since they are now isolated from the body of the nanosat, drop to
temperatures of about -1l0°C. Even these solar array temperatures should not pose a
problem. For example, the solar arrays of many geosynchronous satellites drop
routinely to temperatures of about -150°C during the 72 minute eclipse experienced by
these spacecraft at each equinox season.
The key feature of configuration (3) is that the equipment is coupled to an external
radiator only with a two-phase heat transport device, such as a capillary pumped loop
(CPL) or loop heat pipe (LHP). Operational temperatures are again maintained to
temperatures of about 20°C nominal with a properly sized radiator. However, the
temperature is also totally dependent on the proper operation of the two-phase "loop."
The two-phase heat transport device can be made redundant by the addition of a
second loop if single fault tolerance is desired. Note that redundancy is not a
consideration for the other two configurations. During the ~ 8 hour eclipse, further
improvement is realized, with internal temperatures dropping by as little as 6°C if the
internal payload is well insulated from the exterior of the nanosat. As in configuration
(2), the solar array temperatures drop to about -110°C. For certain equipment or
science instruments, the temperature control afforded by this type of "active" design
may be necessary.
A moderate amount of technology development has been underway since 2000 to
enable a two-phase heat transport system for use in a nanosat. The small size and low
heat transport requirements of the nanosat will necessitate significant downsizing of
today's flight qualified two-phase systems. This reduction will be accomplished by
leveraging recent successful tests of a small cryogenic two-phase CPL.
RF COMMUNICATIONS
The onboard RF subsystem must be small, low mass, and low power. The system
specifications are:
• Mass: 0.5 kg.
• Power consumption: 0.5 watt.
• Transmission data rate: up to 100 kbits/sec.
• Command reception data rate: 1 kbit/sec.
• Range: 3 to 5 Earth radii.
• Channel type: BPSK.
• Effective isotropic radiated power: 0.15 watt (-8.2 dbW).
• Carrier frequency: 8,470 MHz.
The tracking system should be coupled with this communication subsystem to maximize
efficiency in mass and power.
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Report, from the dia 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.