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PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) AND ADDRESS(ES)
PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBERPhysical Sciences Inc 20 New England Business Ctr Andover, MA 01810-1077
SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S)*Air Force Research Laboratory AFRL/VSEA Space Vehicles 3550 Aberdeen Ave SE
SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORTKirtland AFB, NM 87117-5776
NUMBER(S)
DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTESPresented at 41 st AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, 10-13 Jul 05, Tucson, Arizona. Government Purpose Rights
ABSTRACTThis paper discusses results of a program to develop an innovative solar thermal propulsion system for application to orbit change and mobility for small spacecraft. In this system, solar radiation is collected by the concentrator which transfers the concentrated solar radiation to the optical waveguide cable consisting of low-loss optical fibers. The optical waveguide cable transmits the high intensity solar radiation to the thermal receiver for efficient, high performance thrust generation. Through the course of the preceding program, we have demonstrated the base for the system hardware. This paper discusses results of the program to develop and evaluate an engineering model of the solar thermal propulsion system based on the OW technology. This paper discusses results of a program to develop an innovative solar thermal propulsion system for application to orbit change and mobility for small spacecraft. In this system, solar radiation is collected by the concentrator which transfers the concentrated solar radiation to the optical waveguide cable consisting of low-loss optical fibers. The optical waveguide cable transmits the high intensity solar radiation to the thermal receiver for efficient, high performance thrust generation. Through the course of the preceding program, we have demonstrated the base for the system hardware. This paper discusses results of the program to develop and evaluate an engineering model of the solar thermal propulsion system based on the OW technology.
SUBJECT TERMS