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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.
“BEAMS”49 pages
- 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…
UNCLASSIFIED/ /F8R 8FFIOIAI:. ~91! 8Ul:.Y
Contents
Chapter 1: Nanosatellite Technologies .................................................................. 3
Chapter 2: Laser Lightcraft Nanosatellite Propulsion .............................................. 11
Chapter 3: Laser Lightcraft Weapon Mission Selection Study .................................. 27
Chapter 4: Summary of Multi-Megawatt Laser Study for Lightcraft Propulsion
Applications ..................................................................................................... 42
Chapter 5: Conclusion ...................................................................................... 68
References ....................................................................................................... 71
Figures
Figure 1. Air Force X-25LR Laser Lightcraft .......................................................... 12
Figure 2. AFRL Test Vehicle in Vertical Flight ........................................................ 14
Figure 3. Time-Lapse Photo of a Lightcraft Undergoing an Outdoor Vertical Flight Test 15
Figure 4. Lightcraft Flight-Test Vehicle Used in Horizontal Guide-Wire Flight Tests ...... 16
Figure 5. Lightcraft Undergoing Horizontal Guide-Wire Flight Test ........................... 16
Figure 6. Lightcraft Undergoing Horizontal Guide-Wire Flight Test ........................... 17
Figure 7. Lightcraft Concept ............................................................................... 18
Figure 8. Lightcraft Trajectory and Associated Pointing Angles ................................. 19
Figure 9. Lightcraft Vehicle Evolution ................................................................... 20
Figure 10. Attenuation Effects on Captured Laser Beam Power ................................ 22
Figure 11. Influence of Trajectory and Laser Wavelength on Captured Power ............. 22
Figure 12. Captured Laser Power vs. Increasing Range from 11.2 μm CO2 Laser ........ 23
Figure 13. Influence of Lightcraft Range and Pointing Angles on Captured Power ........ 24
Figure 14. Ground/Sea-to-Space Concept ............................................................. 27
Figure 15. Air-to-Space Concept ......................................................................... 28
Figure 16. Schematic of Power Oscillator Optics ................................................... .44
Figure 17. Schematic of MOPA ............................................................................ 45
Figure 18. Schematic of the Laser N2/CO2/H2 Gas Flow System ................................ 45
Figure 19. Northrop Grumman's Joint High Power Bulk Slab Solid-State Laser .......... .48
Figure 20. DARPA's High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System ......................... 50
Figure 21. Phase Change Materials Allow Storage of Large Intermittent Heat Loads
While Slow Regeneration Removes Heat from Aircraft ............................................ 52
Figure 22. Typical HPFL MDPA Design .................................................................. 54
Figure 23. Fiber Laser Beam Combining Techniques ............................................... 54
Figure 24. Pumping Fiber Lasers ......................................................................... 56
Figure 25. Large and Small Diameter Fiber Lasers ................................................. 56
Figure 26. Single Mode Fiber Laser Modules .......................................................... 57
Figure 27. Multimode HPFLs ............................................................................... 57
Figure 28. Free-Electron Laser ............................................................................ 58
Figure 29. Free-Electron Laser Mechanism ............................................................ 58
Figure 30. Free-Electron Laser Electron Beam Phase-Space Evolution ....................... 59
Figure 31. Recirculating-Beam FEL System ........................................................... 60
Figure 32. High-Power FEL Optical Resonator ........................................................ 62
Figure 33. Notional Long Range HEL Beam Control System ..................................... 64
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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.