FOIA: Advanced Space Propulsion Study (for interstellar travel)

AdvancedSpacePropulsionStudy.pdf
Advanced Space Propulsion Study--Antiproton and Beamed Power Propulsion (U)
Report detailing exotic propulsion methods for interstellar spacecraft, including: antiproton annihilation propulsion, laser thermal propulsion, laser-pushed lightsails, tether transportation systems, solar sails, and metallic hydrogen.
Document date: 1987-10-01
Department: USAF Astronautics Laboratory
Author: R. L. Forward (Hughes Research Laboratories)
Document type: Technical Report
pages: 214


Archivist's Notes: Excellent quality, easy to read, massive bibliography on antiproton science and technology. Long document. Includes the first seven issues of the Mirror Matter Newsletter, concerning the science and technology of antimatter.

I would say this document is an extensive study for the advanced space propulsion.

Few of the issues that deals with are:

1- Normal matter and Mirror matter

2- Schematic of Antiproton Annihilation Propulsion

3- Present method of making antiprotons

4- Polar Levitated Geostationary Orbit

5- Eclipsat

6- Sunwatcher Sail System

The purpose of this study is to monitor the research at the forefront of physics and engineering in order to discover new technology and scientific phenomena that might have application to new spacecraft propulsion.

Full of schematics and designs, graphics and formulas, is a study that involves laboratories and scientists from USA and abroad. And of course the leader is CERN.

A very interesting series of articles. Here is the real meat and potatoes for the science people on ATS.Within these pages are a veritable garden of facts and theories to be consumed. Many ideas here will resonate with, and even tie in to, existing ATS threads. Much of this will lend itself to an abundance of further research on what the current state of certain projects are.

But, there are some areas that are just opinions, and so the reader is warned to look closely. As an example, early on there is the statement that the creation of antimatter will "always require much (10 to the fourth power times) more energy to produce than can be extracted from any annihilation process." Naturally one should view such opinions as being reasonable at that time, and maybe for a long time to come; but the word "always" covers way to much to be accepted at face value.

These documents are not a fifteen minute read, so I think it only fair to give warning. However, for those so inclined, this is indeed an ATS feast at the weird end of the scientific smorgasbord.

Edit to keep verbs in the same tense.

[edit on 19-11-2007 by NGC2736]

This document is an amazing collection of space propulsion techniques that sound like they came straight out of an Arther C. Clark novel. Many I have heard of before, and others I thought were impossible. These reports are proposals to show that with further research these techniques could be viable in the future.

I have always been a fan of the space elevator, and with using carbon nanotubes to make the ribbon, it is becoming an even greater possibility of making chemical rockets obsolete. Just today I received a letter from the Planetary Society describing a mission they are pursuing to prove how a laser propelled solar sail could work.

I did notice one interesting detail in this document that makes me wonder. I noticed on page 15, the name of one of the propulsion drives was called ARIES, which is short for Applied Research in Energy Storage, that “has two major thrusts, chemically bound excited states and antimatter”.

Well guess what the name is of the new rocket that will soon replace the Shuttle? You guessed it, "Ares" without the "i". Coincidence?

www.nasa.gov...