Ground and flight tests of a laser propelled vehicle

Abstract

Abstract : A laser propelled Lightcraft vehicle has been successfully flown in a series of experiments conducted at the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF), White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), NM. The flight tests, conducted under a joint USAF/NASA flight demonstration program, used a single optimized geometry scaled over a range of sizes designed to fly on the 10 kW Pulsed Laser Vulnerability Test System (PLVTS) pulsed carbon dioxide laser. The axisymmetric Lightcraft vehicles were propelled by airbreathing, pulsed-detonation engines with an infinite fuel specific impulse. Schlieren and shadowgraph pictures were taken as a function of time, and laser beam propagation studies were conducted with different focal length telescopes. Spin-stabilized free-flight launches outside the laboratory have been accomplished to altitudes approaching 30 m (100 ft).