Laser-Powered, Vertical Flight Experiments at the High Energy Laser System Test Facility

Abstract

In 1996. the Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion Division at Edwards AFB initiated the Lightcraft Technology Demonstration (LTD) Program that had as its main objective to launch a laser-propelled vehicle into a suborbital trajectory within a period of 5 years. The concept is a nanosatellite in which the laser propulsion engine and satellite hardware are intimately shared.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 02, 2001
Accession Number
ADA408681

Entities

People

  • Carl William Larson
  • Franklin B. Mead Jr.

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Adaptive Optics
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Altitude
  • Attitude Control Systems
  • Chemical Equilibrium
  • Control Systems
  • Energy Conversion
  • Ground Based
  • Kinetic Energy
  • Laser Beams
  • Lasers
  • Low Earth Orbits
  • Military Research
  • Payload
  • Test Facilities
  • Thermal Propulsion Systems

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster
  • Space - Satellites