BEAMED ENERGY PROPULSION First International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion

Huntsville, Alabama, USA 5 – 7 November 2002

EDITOR

Andrew V. Pakhomov

Melville, New York, 2003 AIP | CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 664

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ISBN 978- (Original Print) ISSN 0094-243X Printed in the United States of America TABLE OF CONTENTS

The World, The Flesh and The Devil ...... 3 Arthur Kantrowitz

Laser Propulsion: The Early Years...... 11 Peter E. Nebolsine, Anthony N. Pirri

Laser Launch—The Second Wave ...... 22 Jordin T. Kare

Ground to Space Laser Power Beaming: Missions, Technologies, and Economic Advantages ...... 37 John D. G. Rather

Brief History of the Lightcraft Technology Demonstrator (LTD) Project...... 49 Leik N. Myrabo

A Brief History of Laser Propulsion at the Marshall Space Flight Center ...... 61 Lee W. Jones

Activities of Laser Propulsion in Japan ...... 71 Masayuki Niino

Laser Propulsion Activities in Germany...... 79 Willy L. Bohn, Wolfgang O. Schall

Conversion of Blast Wave to Impulse in a Pulsed-laser Thruster ...... 95 K. Mori, H. Katsurayama, Y. Hirooka, K. Komurasaki, Y. Arakawa

Vertical Launch Performance of Laser-driven In-Tube Accelerator...... 105 Naohide Urabe, Sukyum Kim, Akihiro Sasoh, In-Seuck Jeung

Laser Sustained Plasma Free Jet as a Tool for Propulsion ...... 113 A. Lebéhot, M. Dupuy, V. Lago, M. Dudeck

Combined Theoretical and Experimental Flight Dynamics Investigation of a Laser-Propelled Vehicle ...... 125 M. A. Libeau, L. N. Myrabo, M. Filippelli, J. McInerney

Numerical Modeling of Laser Supported Propulsion with an Aluminum Surface Breakdown Model ...... 138 Yen-Sen Chen, Jiwen Liu, Ten-See Wang

Numerical Analysis of Gasdynamic Aspects of Laser Propulsion ...... 149 Yu. P. Golovachov, Yu. A. Kurakin, Yu. A. Rezunkov, A. A. Schmidt, V. V. Stepanov

Numerical Simulation of Flow Characteristics of Supersonic Airbreathing Laser Propulsion Vehicle...... 160 Sung-Don Kim, Jun-Sik Pang, In-Seuck Jeung, Jeong-Yeol Choi

Energy Conversion in Laser Propulsion III ...... 170 C. William Larson, Franklin B. Mead Jr., Wayne M. Kalliomaa

Simulation and Experiments on Laser Propulsion by Water Cannon Target...... 185 Takashi Yabe, Ryou Nakagawa, Masashi Yamaguchi, Tomomasa Ohkubo, Keiichi Aoki, Choijil Baasandash, Hirokazu Oozono, Takehiro Oku, Kazumoto Taniguchi, Masamichi Nakagawa, Masashi Sakata, Youichi Ogata, Gen Inoue

Ablative Laser Propulsion: A Study of Specific Impulse, Thrust and Efficiency...... 194 Andrew V. Pakhomov, M. Shane Thompson, Don A. Gregory

Effects of Time Separation on Double-Pulsed Laser Ablation of Graphite ...... 206 M. Shane Thompson, Kenneth A. Herren, Jun Lin, Andrew V. Pakhomov

Characterization of Liquid Propellant for Improved LOTV Mission...... 214 Shigeaki Uchida, Masafumi Bato

Laser Plasma Microthruster Performance Evaluation...... 223 James R. Luke, Claude R. Phipps

Advantages of a ns-pulse Micro-Laser Plasma Thruster ...... 230 Claude R. Phipps, James R. Luke

Survey of Beamed Energy Propulsion Concepts by the MSFC Space Environmental Effects Team...... 240 P. A. Gray, M. K. Nehls, D. L. Edwards, M. R. Carruth Jr.

Optimization of Laser Ablative Propulsion Parameters: A Proposal ...... 251 Bansi Lal, Fang-Yu Yueh, Jagdish P. Singh

Conversion of Sub-Millimeter Waves to Gas Flow in Sonic Region...... 257 Donald G. Johansen

MW Energy Addition in Application to Propulsion ...... 269 V. G. Brovkin, Yu. F. Kolesnichenko

MHD Augmentation of Rocket Engines Using Beamed Energy ...... 280 John T. Lineberry, James N. Chapman, Ron J. Litchford, Jonathan Jones

A 35 GHz Extremely High Power Rectenna For The Microwave Lightcraft...... 292 A. Alden

Flight of Microwave-Driven Sails: Experiments and Applications ...... 303 James Benford, Gregory Benford

Spin of Microwave Propelled Sails...... 313 Gregory Benford, Olga Gornostaeva, James Benford

Experimental Tests Of Beam-Riding Sail Dynamics ...... 325 Gregory Benford, Olga Gornostaeva, James Benford

3-D Simulation of Rigid Microwave Propelled Sails Using Spin...... 336 D. Georgiev, E. Schamiloglu, C. T. Abdallah, E. Chahine

Dynamics and Control of Microwave-propelled Sails Using Delayed Measurements ...... 348 C. T. Abdallah, E. Chahine, D. Georgiev, E. Schamiloglu

Near-Term Beamed Sail Propulsion Missions: Cosmos-1 and Sun-Diver ...... 358 James Benford, Gregory Benford

Space Based Energy Beaming Requirements for Interstellar Laser Sailing...... 369 Travis Taylor, R. Charles Anding, D. Halford, Gregory L. Matloff

From the Sun to Infinity...... 382 Greg L. Matloff, Travis S. Taylor

The Application of Tension-Based Structural Design Concepts to Ultralightweight Space Systems ...... 390 Glenn W. Zeiders

Large Space Telescopes Using Fresnel Lens For Power Beaming, Astronomy and Sail Missions...... 399 James T. Early

Fundamental Study of a Relativistic Laser-Accelerated Plasma Thruster ...... 411 Hideyuki Horisawa, Hideaki Kuramoto, Keishi Oyaizu, Naoki Uchida, Itsuro Kimura

Fundamental Study of a Laser-+Assisted Plasma Thruster...... 423 Hideyuki Horisawa, Masatoshi Kawakami, Wun-Wei Lin, Akira Igari, Itsuro Kimura

Advanced Space Propulsion with Ultra-Fast Lasers...... 433 Terry Kammash

Near-Term Laser Launch Capability: The Heat Exchanger Thruster ...... 442 Jordin T. Kare

In-Tube Laser Propulsion Configurations...... 454 Sukyum Kim, Naohide Urabe, Hiroyuki Torikai, Akihiro Sasoh, In-Seuck Jeung

An Experiment To Demonstrate Spacecraft Power Beaming and Solar Cell Annealing Using High- Energy Lasers ...... 461 Richard Luce, Sherif Michael

Generation and Focusing of High Brightness Pulsed X-rays: Toward the X-ray Driven Micro-Ship ...... 475 Makoto Shiho, Kazuhiko Horioka, Yuji Kiriyama, Sadao Aoki, Takashi Yabe

Experimental and Computational Investigation of Hypersonic Electric-Arc Airspikes...... 485 R. M. Bracken, C. S. Hartley, G. Mann, L. N. Myrabo, H. T. Nagamatsu, M. N. Shneider, Y. P. Raizer

Brazilian Activities On The Laser-Supported DEAS In Hypersonic Flow ...... 497 M. A. S. Minucci, P. G. P. Toro, J. B. Chanes Jr., A. G. Ramos, A. L. Pereira, H. T. Nagamatsu, L. N. Myrabo

The Impact Imperative: Laser Ablation for Deflecting Asteroids, Meteoroids, and Comets from Impacting the Earth ...... 509 Jonathan W. Campbell, Claude Phipps, Larry Smalley, James Reilly, Dona Boccio

Beam Driven Stratospheric Airship ...... 523 Masahiko Onda

Laser-Driven Micro-Ship and Micro-Turbine by Water-Powered Propulsion...... 535 Tomomasa Ohkubo, Masashi Yamaguchi, Takashi Yabe, Keiichi Aoki, Hirokazu Oozono, Takehiro Oku, Kazumoto Taniguchi, Masamichi Nakagawa

Control of Wing for Micro-Airplane with Smart Material and Laser...... 545 Itsuro Kajiwara, Hiroyasu Ishikawa, Shunsuke Furuya, Takashi Yabe, Chiaki Nishidome

Laser-Driven Water-Powered Propulsion and Air Curtain for Vacuum Insulation ...... 557 Masashi Yamaguchi, Ryou Nakagawa, Takashi Yabe, Choijil Baasandash, Keiichi Aoki, Tomomasa Ohkubo, Masashi Sakata, Youichi Ogata, Masamichi Nakagawa

Laser Spot Size Control In Space...... 571 H. E. Bennett

Ground-Based Adaptive Optic Transfer Mirrors For Space Applications: I. Design and Materials...... 582 H. E. Bennett, J. J. Shaffer, R. C. Romeo, P. C. Chen

Ground-Based Adaptive Optic Transfer Mirrors For Space Applications: II. Composite Prototype Mirror...... 593 H. E. Bennett, J. J. Shaffer, R. C. Romeo, P. C. Chen

Space-Borne Solar Laser for Power-Beaming Applications...... 608 Ja H. Lee, Bagher M. Tabibi

High-Energy Pulse-Repetitive CO2-laser for Lightcraft Experiments ...... 612 Anatoly V. Rodin, Valery G. Naumov, Anatoly F. Nastoyashchii, Vladimir M. Shashkov

Nonlinear Optical Techniques of Laser Beam Control for Laser Propulsion Applications ...... 620 Vladimir E. Sherstobitov, Aleksey A. Leshchev, Leonid N. Soms +3 100 MW 1.6-μm Pr :LaCl3 Propulsion Laser Pumped by a Nuclear-Pumped He/Ar/Xe Laser...... 634 Frederick P. Boody

Powering Ion-Engine Equipped Orbital Transfer Vehicles With A Ground-Based Free Electron Laser ...... 649 H. E. Bennett

Vehicle And System Concepts For Laser Orbital Maneuvering And Interplanetary Propulsion ...... 662 Jordin T. Kare

The Energy Tanker Concept ...... 674 Edward E. Montgomery IV

Propulsion Systems Integration for a ‘Tractor Beam’ Mercury Lightcraft: Liftoff Engine ...... 683 L. N. Myrabo

Pulsed Laser Facilities Operating from UV to IR at the Gas Laser Lab of the Lebedev Institute ...... 697 Andrei Ionin, Igor Kholin, Boris Vasil’ev, Vladimir Zvorykin

Facilities to Support Beamed Energy Launch Testing at the Laser Hardened Materials Evaluation Laboratory (LHMEL)...... 709 Michael L. Lander

Author Index