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Defense Intelligence Reference Document Positron Aerospace Propulsion

Defense Intelligence Agency · 35 pages · text from the file's own layer

This unclassified Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency is dated 2 March 2010. It was produced in FY 2009 under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. The report reviews work on using positrons as aerospace fuel. It covers air-breathing turbojet and ramjet engines, unmanned aircraft, missiles, single-stage reusable vehicles, positron rockets and a crewed Mars mission, along with how positrons could be produced and stored. It concludes that a first positron-powered flight around the globe could be possible within 10 years.

  • p. 5 …This paper is an anthology of that work and not a general review of antimatter propulsion…
  • p. 7 …Because of the aforementioned performance bounds of combustion engines, the aeronautic industry has worked diligently to…
  • p. 13 …Defense, NASA, and the aerospace industry are working to eliminate multistage rockets for access to low…
  • p. 16 …28 In a solid-core positron rocket, positrons heat a hydrogen working fluid through an attenuating…
  • p. 18 …heated H: • Propellant-heated He • Working fluids for power • Working fluids for power systems - inert gas…
  • p. 21 …was assumed to be parabolic for this work. 38 To make the Sanger photon rocket practical…
  • p. 22 …be possible • Hot-bleed line possible Future work • Efficiency study Gas-Core Sanger Ablation 1000 - 2500…
  • p. 23 …consumption does not dominate rocket positron consumption. ◄ Work 5 Rf'!gf'l'M'rllto.- JC~ ~ 4…
  • p. 31 …What lifetimes might be expected working Figure 22. TEM of Silica Aerogel (courtesy with this material…
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Figure 7. LOCAAS Turbojet Engine (courtesy of AFRL, Eglin AFB, FL) 17
A UAV fueled with positrons would allow for an ultralong-endurance platform with many
"dual-use" applications, including the following:
Military
• Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
• Real-time battlefield command observation.
• Monitoring and early warning of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
• Ordnance delivery.
• Target laser illumination/covert target acquisition.
• Coastal patrol.
• Drug interdiction.
• Search and rescue.
• Geomagnetic and atmospheric surveys.
Civil, State, and Local Government
• Airborne early warning (storms, terrorist attacks, chemical/biologicaljnuclear).
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 35 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.