Investigation of Innovative Lightcraft Designs for Hypersonic Air Breathing and Rocket Flight by Beamed Energy Propulsion.

摘要

The report has three parts: 1) Lightcraft inlet design: The work outlines the innovative streamtraced design methodology and a number of suitable lightcraft inlet designs. It also contains an analysis of laser detonation, a system level analysis of lightcraft flight and analysis of a ground test model. 2) Experimental ground testing. The lightcraft design documented in Part 1 was tested at the University of Southern Queensland's hypersonic test facility. This report documents these tests that include both flow visualization and surface pressure measurements for a range of angles of attack. 3) Future flight test program. A feasibility study was performed to investigate how a future lightcraft test program may be conducted. A multi-part test program is described including trajectory and cost estimates.