Proceedings SDIO/DARPA (Strategic Defense Initiative Organization/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Workshop on Laser Propulsion: Volume 2, Contributed Papers

摘要

This second volume of the Proceedings of the 1986 Workshop on Laser Propulsion, sponsored by SDIO and DARPA and held at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7-18 July 1986, consists of papers contributed by Workshop attendees. While only a fraction of those present at the Workshop are represented here, these papers give a cross section of current ideas in the field. In particular, ''Laser Thermal Propulsion'' and ''CW Laser Propulsion'' give an overview of ongoing work on propulsion by CW lasers, while ''Laser Propulsion to Earth Orbit...'' presents a concept for pulsed laser propulsion that is the focus of considerable new research. ''One-Dimensional Modelling of a Two-Pulse LSD Thruster'' and ''Trajectory Simulation for Laser Launching'' describe some of this research in embryo form. Laser propulsion lends itself to some unique applications, some of which are discussed in the paper ''Strategic Defense Applications of Ground-Based Laser Propulsion.'' ''Laser Weapon Target Practice with Gee-Whiz Targets'' describes a particularly spectacular application of propulsion by photon momentum. Finally, some engineering possibilities for advanced laser-propelled vehicles are described in ''The 'Mercury Lightcraft' Concept.'' Individual papers have been cataloged separately. (ERA citation 13:009268)