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.

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p. 4 …Influence of Target Velocity and Intercept Angle on Impact Energy and Required Mass .................................................................................................. 33 Table 5…
p. 5 …The term "minisatellite" refers to a spacecraft with a wet mass (including onboard propellant) of 100…
p. 7 …Nanosatellite Technologies OVERVIEW Nanosats require technologies that radically reduce the mass and power of components without…
p. 8 …nanosat presents some unique challenges, with low mass (0.25 kg) and low power (0.5…
p. 9 …In order to develop a low mass C&DH, a lightweight and low power electronics packaging…
p. 11 …RF COMMUNICATIONS The onboard RF subsystem must be small, low mass, and low power. The system…
p. 12 …additional strain on an already challenged nanosat mass and power budget. For this reason, the concept…
p. 13 …The material will be selected based on mass, cost, manufacturability, ease of assembly and integration, and…
p. 15 …for the spacecraft because a large propellant mass and heavy energy source are not carried onboard…
p. 17 …Current Lightcraft designs are limited to about 60 g mass and 15 cm in diameter by…
p. 21 …It requires a beam power of 0.1 to 1 MW per kg of vehicle mass…
p. 22 …The majority of the system mass required to launch a payload to orbit is left on…
p. 24 …Therefore, this would allow approximately 4 kg of mass to be placed into orbit with the…
p. 25 …same ply-thickness) to meet Lightcraft airframe mass requirements. Another important finding in the study was…
p. 31 …Additional estimated mass for performing the Lightsat function is no more than about 1 kg, if…
p. 32 …Lightcraft takeoff masses no more than about 20 kg can be accelerated to orbital velocities by…
p. 33 …for missile and maneuvering aircraft interception. • Additional mass along Lightcraft centerline for hardened target penetration. LIGHTCRAFT…
p. 34 …Lightcraft sizing assumed a propellant mass fraction of 0.5 and 1.0 MW of laser…
p. 35 …Hybrid Rocket Expendible Launch Vehicle - Assumed Perfonnance and Estimated Weights Payload Mass (kg) 1.00 5…
p. 37 …It is therefore estimated that the air-to-space Lightcraft dry mass would be about the…
p. 38 …Influence of Target Velocity and Intercept Angle on Impact Energy and Required Mass 2 61. Lightcraft…
p. 39 …Influence of Lightcraft and Target Velocity on Impact Energy and Required Mass 261. Lightcraft Lightcraft Impact…
p. 40 …The lower mass also saves launch costs, so the total system costs less for the same…
p. 41 …many spacecraft that the economics of true mass production will come into play in space for…
p. 44 …the local vertical, with its center of mass in GEO. The Fresnel zone plate has a…
p. 46 …wall plug and optical efficiencies, cost, complexity, mass, and size. Free-electron lasers are another class…
p. 47 …P = 2000 Pa (or 0.02 atmospheres). • Mass flow rate, Q = 60 kg/sec per module…
p. 48 UNCLASSIFIED//509 AEEJCJOP 11£5 O.-blf + Total mass flow rate, Qtota1 = 240 kg/sec for…
p. 50 …sec, and 15 kg/sec of CD2 mass flow represents 2.053 x 1026 molecules/sec…
p. 51 …The 60 kg/sec mass flow requirement of the 3: 1 N2/C02 lasing gases means…
p. 53 …mass (not including the prime power and cooling systems) to achieve the low specific mass (5…
p. 65 …is the undulator period, mis the electron mass, and c is the speed of light. 'MeV…
p. 72 …The Lightcraft specific impulse is essentially infinite (several thousand seconds in rocket mode), while payload mass…

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Chapter 3: Laser Lightcraft Weapon Mission Selection
Study
The objective of the Froning and Davis [26] study was to examine crucial future Air
Force launch vehicle missions and select at least one that might be performed very
cost-effectively by Lightcraft vehicles powered by beamed electromagnetic energy from
airborne or ground/sea-based lasers. It entailed identification and analysis of promising
launch vehicle missions for laser-propelled Lightcraft, and assessments of the identified
and analyzed missions by experts in the mission areas. See Figure 14 and Figure 15 for
Lightcraft missions that have been identified and explored.
It was concluded that the most promising Air Force mission for a laser-propelled
Lightcraft is the placement of Earth and space observing nanosats of up to 3 kg mass
into LEO. Such a laser-propelled Lightcraft would also serve as a "Lightsat," because it
would use the Lightcraft's laser propulsion optics as a telescope for observing military
targets on Earth and in space. Additional estimated mass for performing the Lightsat
function is no more than about 1 kg, if the Lightcraft forebody structure panels can be
unfurled in orbit and used as solar power collectors. Such a Lightcraft system appears
capable of reaching LEO at 1/Sth to 1/lOth the cost required for placing a similar Lightsat
system into LEO using multistage chemical rocket systems.
Ground-to-Space
(Earth-to-Orbit) /
/
/
t:l
/
Pico or Nano
Satellites
Figure 14. Ground/Sea-to-Space Concept: Appropriate rotation of a high-energy laser beam,
emanating from a ground/sea-based laser, guides and propels an integral Lightcraft pico-
/nano-satellite along an ETO ascent path until orbital conditions are reached, or until
beamed laser energy can no longer be transformed into Lightcraft thrust [26l.
27
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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.