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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. 6 UNCLASSIFIED/ ;C Antimatter Antimatter appears in the form of fundamental particles that have their sign of…
  • p. 13 UNCLASSIFIED//509 OFFHiI.«1k '181! 8HLY a c Figure 8. BOMARC {left) and Talos {right) Ramjet…
  • p. 15 …I ---- J I I Time ''1500 SC'C Figure 9. Positron SSRV Flight Profile (courtesy Positronics…
  • p. 19 …Synchronous with pulsed Ps injection are (a-c) pulses of LN2 or LNe or LH 2…
  • p. 20 UNCLASSIFIED/ }F81il 8FFll!ltllt ~81!!! SHLY LN2 or Ne (a) (b) (c) H2 P<»itronTrap Pb…
  • p. 24 …and a core temperature near 2,800 °c. The 1993 study examined 15 kilopound-force klbt…
  • p. 25 …b) 0---+++- '~~i):•J"";,,, a 'm,O - =~;_·,--"-~-' ~.~ (c) Figures 16. Mars Trajectories (X-coordinates defined in…
  • p. 27 …9FFI~llk YE'lii 911k>C MSS, and the astronauts descend to the Mars surface on…
  • p. 33 …2 C. D. Anderson, Phys. Rev. 43,491 (1933). 3 O. Chamberlain, E. Segre, C. Wiegand…
  • p. 34 UNCLASSIFIED/ }F81il 8FFlil.l1k WE'lii 811k>C 33 S. K. Borowski et al., "Nuclear Thermal…
  • p. 35 …Smith, "Long-Term Confinement of Dense Positron Plasmas", Final Technical Report, AFRL Contract F08630-02-C…
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,SFIHl 8FFHil.t.k Wfili IH.k\f
Table 1. GLOW for Chemical SSRV21
Vehicle Component
Structure
Thermal Protection
Propulsion (4 engines)
Electronics
TOTAL DRY MASS
15% Margin + Unused Propellants
Payload
BURNOUT MASS
TOTAL PROPELLANT
GLOW
Mass
25,700 kg
12,300 kg
14,900 kg
7 600 kg
60,500 kg
11,400 kg
11,340 kg (24,948 lbs)
83,240 kg
368,300 kg
451,540 kg (993,388 lbs)
Table 2. GLOW for Positron SSRV22
Vehicle Component
Structure
Thermal Protection
Propulsion (4 engines)
Electronics
TOTAL DRY MASS
15% Margin + Unused Propellants
Payload
BURNOUT MASS
TOTAL PROPELLANT
GLOW
Mass
25,700 kg
12,300 kg
14,900 kg
7 600 kg
60.500 kg
11,400 kg
11,340 kg (24,948 lbs)
83,240 kg
176,000 kg
259,240 k 590,328 lbs
The GLOW of the positron SSRV is 43 percent less than that of the chemical SSRV
owing to reduced propellant mass. The PTRE will dramatically increase the affordability
of space transportation by increasing the useful payload.
9
UNCLASSIFIED//FIUl 8FFI&I.«1k WliEii IU•klf

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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.