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.

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p. 3 …Positron Mass .................................................................. 5 Figure 7. LOCAAS Turbojet Engine ......................................................................... 6 iii UNCLASSIFIED//F81it 8FFIIIAI!: 1!181! &••1…
p. 4 …Total Positron Requirement for SSRV With a Dry Mass of 60,500 kg ....... 10 Table 4…
p. 6 …Hence, when Ps self-annihilates, there is 100 percent conversion of mass into electromagnetic energy given…
p. 7 …5 At sea level for a fuel-air mass ratio of 0.068, it is 500…
p. 10 …1.00 Positron Mass (mg) ./V 1.50 Figure 6. UAV Range Versus Positron Mass (courtesy…
p. 12 …nonstop flights are possible. • Increase in structural mass allows more electronics/passenger amenities. RAMJET-ASSISTED MISSILE…
p. 13 …Improving payload mass requires reducing propellant and structural mass, both of which can be accomplished using…
p. 14 …GLOW for Chemical SSRV21 Vehicle Component Structure Thermal Protection Propulsion (4 engines) Electronics TOTAL DRY MASS…
p. 15 …24 The positron mass budget for a 60,500-kg dry mass for ascension to LEO…
p. 17 …First, a reduction in the engine mass for a given thrust is realized; second, there is…
p. 19 …lead-cartridge concepts show promise if the mass flow rate of the hydrogen propellant exceeds that…
p. 20 …flow-through system with LH2 at higher mass flow rates than LXe; and (d) One-fluid…
p. 21 …A separate Brayton-cycle positron energy conversion system provides power to the pellet mass driver and…
p. 22 …Comparison of Three Positron Propulsion Concepts for Mars Mission lsp Thrust e+ mass Special Notes Solid…
p. 24 …On board propellant requires an overall interplanetary system mass that prohibits use of any type of…
p. 25 …This gives significant mass savings or an equivalent reduction in Mars-to-Earth return time for…
p. 26 …Mars reference mission 53 , 54 considered payload masses of 60,000 kg for 2015 missions. This…

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Table 5, the required 150 μg for this epic flight could be manufactured in 6 months for
$96 million, or 0.0007 percent of U.S. GDP.
Positron Storage
Confinement of antimatter has been reviewed extensively in the literature. 64
Historically, the first approach was the Penning trap. 65 Stores of 109 positrons for 1
hour have been achieved. 66 Electric potentials are required to overcome space charge
forces. 67 To illustrate, confinement of 10 15 positrons in a 10-cm-radius sphere in a
perfect vacuum requires an electric potential of 240 kilovolts. Laboratory control of such
large potentials restricts stores to < 1 picogram (10 15 ) .
.. .
---Figure 19. Penning Trap With Trapping Volume of 1,000 Cubic Centimeters (center}, Injection
Apparatus (left} and Controls (right} (courtesy Positronics Research LLC} 68
In addition, with a magnetic field there are magnetic energy density restrictions on
confinement of positron plasmas. The Brillouin Density Limit is:
2
n = E B /2m
B o e. ( 1)
For a practical magnetic field of 1 Tesla, nB = 9.7 x 10 12/cubic centimeters. In a 10-cm
radius sphere, the Brillouin Number Limit is 4 x 10 16 (40 picograms). Therefore, by
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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.