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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. 4 …Conceptual 110 Watt Positron Closed Cycle Generator Based on the NASA Glenn Research Center Stirling Radioisotope…
  • p. 5 …Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, Atlanta, Georgia. This paper…
  • p. 13 …18 SINGLE-STAGE REUSABLE VEHICLE (SSRV} The Department of Defense, NASA, and the aerospace industry are…
  • p. 23 …Conceptual 110-Watt Positron Closed-Cycle Generator Based on the NASA Glenn Research Center Stirling Radioisotope…
  • p. 24 …The NASA Mars Exploration Study Team studied such systems in 1997-98.49, so Conclusions reached…
  • p. 28 …A 2000 NASA study 63 on which this author collaborated placed the cost of antiprotons at…
  • p. 31 …Silica aerogel is a promising material that was developed by NASA because of its extremely low…
  • p. 33 …of Space", The Advanced Space Propulsion Workshop, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, April 2…
  • p. 34 …The Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team," NASA Special Publication 6107, JSC (1997…
  • p. 35 …The Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team," NASA Special Publication 6107, JSC (1997…
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'F811. 8FFll!l*L 1!1!11! t!IIU:!Y
,000
!cc1530sec
v = 7600 msec.140 km
t .. 146sec
M = 1 8. 10000m
0, 1 J I
t=1200sec
M = 8, 38 km
I
I ---- J
I
I
Time
''1500 SC'C
Figure 9. Positron SSRV Flight Profile (courtesy Positronics Research LLC) 23
1 = 1650 sec
300km
The SSRV takes off horizontally (Figure 9) from Edwards Air Force Base, accelerates to
mach 1.8 as a turbojet, and then goes to the ramjet mode. At mach 8 the rocket is
ignited and takes the vehicle into LEO. 24 The positron mass budget for a 60,500-kg dry
mass for ascension to LEO is 86.9 mg (Table 3).
Table 3. Total Positron Requirement for SSRV With a Dry Mass of 60,500 kg 25
Mission Mode
Turbojet - Launch
Ramjet
10% margin (turbojet mode upon
landing, inclination changes, etc.)
TOTAL
Mass Of e!
2.5 mg
76.5 mg
7.9 mg
86.9 mg
An artist's rendition of the SSRV is provided in Figure 10.
10
UNCLASSIFIED/ ,'F811. 8FFll!l*L 1!181! 811L¥

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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.