Abstract
An investigation is performed on an airbreathing laser propulsion (LP) system designed to propel a 1.4 m diameter, 120‐kg (dry mass) vehicle called the Lightcraft Technology Demonstrator (LTD) into low Earth orbit, along with its opto‐electronics payload. The LTD concept led directly to the model ♯200 lightcraft — recently demonstrated in laboratory and flight experiments at White Sands Missile Range, NM at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF), using the 10‐kW PLVTS CO2 laser. The pulsed detonation wave engine (PDE) employs repetitively ignited, laser‐supported detonation (LSD) waves to develop thrust by expanding high pressure blast waves over an annular, interior shroud surface. Numerical simulation of thruster impulse is accomplished with a 1‐D cylindrical model of blast waves propagating radially outward from a laser‐generated ‘line‐source’ of high temperature, high pressure air. External airflow over the LTD structure is also analyzed to predict basic engine/vehicle drag characteristics, including inlet total pressure recovery, and captured air mass flow rate — all projected vs. flight Mach number and altitude.
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