Proceedings, SDIO (Strategic Defense Initiative Organization)/DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Workshop on Laser Propulsion Held at Livermore, CA on 7 July 1986: Volume 1, Executive Summary

摘要

The primary charter of the Workshop was to consider the design of ground-to-orbit launch systems (as opposed to, e.g., orbit-changing propulsion). The first three days of the Workshop were devoted to talks on various aspects of laser propulsion and related areas such as FELs; an overview of these talks is presented in the following section. The remainder of the Workshop was devoted largely to discussions of specific issues in the design of laser-energized thrusters and laser launch systems. The development of any type of laser propulsion would significantly expand the range of feasible space missions. Several types of laser propulsion are thus mentioned herein, and work on all types of laser thrusters is recommended. True low-cost access to space, however, will require a laser launching system that is as simple and robust as possible. To this end, this summary emphasizes the extremely simple detonation-wave thruster concept, defined originally by Dennis Reilly and in its current form by Arthur Kantrowitz, on which the latter part of the Workshop concentrated. (ERA citation 13:006231)