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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. 5 …the per-unit cost will be reduced to a small fraction of UNCLASSIFIED//F8A 8FFIQIOP !PSS…
  • p. 8 …Advanced microelectronic solutions are being developed to meet these challenges. The microelectronics developed must be modular…
  • p. 9 …The packaging method that will be chosen must have a small volume and small footprint (6…
  • p. 11 …This reduction will be accomplished by leveraging recent successful tests of a small cryogenic two-phase…
  • p. 13 …methods should be developed to verify quality and structural performance by testing a small subset of…
  • p. 22 …The dry spacecraft mass can be further reduced by two orders of magnitude, and thus the…
  • p. 24 …further indicated that small COTS chemical propulsion systems, with sufficient thrust, would be about a factor…
  • p. 32 …Lightcraft takeoff masses no more than about 20 kg can be accelerated to orbital velocities by…
  • p. 37 …Eliminating such satellite threats has not been examined in detail, but they could be rapidly eliminated…
  • p. 40 …A generic description would be a constellation of small spacecraft each performing its separate function, but…
  • p. 41 UNCLASSIFIED/,, OK 01 I ICIAE 652 one I These array functions can be made coherent over…
  • p. 42 …The coverage spot diameter can be varied by choosing the diameter of the array that is…
  • p. 43 …The relative positions of these picosat elements changes slowly, and only small and infrequent stationkeeping propulsive…
  • p. 44 …can be emplaced and replaced incrementally using laser- powered Lightcraft launch vehicles or even small conventional…
  • p. 45 …small as 40 cm on the ground from GEO. Its field of view can be scanned…
  • p. 50 …use N2, CO2, and small quantities of H2. • Subscale testing will be used to anchor the…
  • p. 53 …kW) and compact size need to be mounted on small tactical airborne platforms like the C…
  • p. 72 …This would be a constellation of small spacecraft each performing its separate function, but these functions…
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Figure 20. DARPA's High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (courtesy of P.
Saunders, AFRL/RDS, Kirtland AFB, NM).
Unlike chemical and gas dynamic laser devices, bulk solid-state lasers possess the
following unique characteristics, which make them highly competitive with any chemical
or gas dynamic laser systems [30]:
• Reliability.
• High level of safety.
• User-friendly.
• Maintenance-free.
• Low-cost performance, high-volume production.
• Compact size.
• Wide range of wavelength selection and wavelength tunability.
• Variety of power oscillator or master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) designs.
• Scalability of beam output power, variety of beam combining techniques: scalable
to 1 MW beam power within 2 years.
Typical solid-state lasers have the following technical features [30]:
• Gain medium:
50
Host crystal [e.g., Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG)], glass or ceramic
(amorphous materials).
- Impurity lasing ions deposited (or doped) in host [e.g., Neodymium (Nd 3+) or
Ytterbium (Yb 3+)].
Range of beam wavelengths().) produced: 0.7 μm to> 2 μm.
• Optically pumped with flash lamps or diode lasers.
• Capable of high peak power pulses.
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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.