NASA Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports

is Orbital Sciences’ Pegasus, with a ride he says is priced at $20 million. For an equivalent payload, the Pegasus would cost
$14,000/lb to LEO - a difference of more than 70%.
Author
Commercial Spacecraft; Launch Vehicles; Low Cost
20040073703 Rice Univ., Houston, TX
Application of Sequential Auction Techniques to Nonlinear Targeting Assignment for Space-Delivered Entry Vehicles
Stiles, Brian A.; May 2004; 123 pp.; In English
Report No.(s): AD-A422604; CI04-150; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A06, Hardcopy
In the future, the arsenal of the U.S. military will include Space-delivered weapons, released by reusable launch vehicles.
Entry vehicles released from the launch platforms will be capable of guiding to target locations throughout the world. In order
to adequately incorporate these weapons into military plans, theater commanders will require sophisticated planning
algorithms to maximize the likelihood of destroying the most important targets. This thesis develops a target assignment
algorithm which uses a sequence of linear auctions to optimize the assignment of entry vehicles to weighted targets. This result
can be improved over time by use of a directed search method, which uses numerous sequences of linear auctions to improve
on solutions by eliminating poor assignments. These methods are compared to greedy methods, showing improvement in the
assignment solution.
DTIC
Aerospace Vehicles; Launch Vehicles; Military Operations; Nonlinearity; Planning
20040073751 Air Force Research Lab., Edwards AFB, CA
Some Results of a Study of the Effectiveness and Cost of a Laser-Powered Lightcraft Vehicle System
Froning, David; McKinney, Leon; Mead, Franklin; Larson, William; Pike, Alan; Apr. 2004; 30 pp.; In English
Contract(s)/Grant(s): Proj-4847
Report No.(s): AD-A422675; AFRL-PR-ED-TP-2004-094; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A03, Hardcopy
No abstract available
Costs; Laser Applications; Laser Beams; Lasers; Propulsion
20040074159 Air Force Inst. of Tech., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
Comparative Analysis on the Cost of Oversight for the New National Security Space Acquisition Policy- A Delphi
Method Approach
DeReus, Darrin L.; Mar. 2004; 112 pp.; In English
Report No.(s): AD-A422619; AFIT/GCA/ENV/04M-2; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A06, Hardcopy
For the past 50 years, the military’s use of space for our national defense has increased exponentially. The use of space
has increased so much that recent events have led to the approval for most space Major Defense Acquisition Programs to fall
under their own process of oversight to track and monitor these programs. The largest reason for this change is due to the
difference in spending profiles and current acquisition regulations that are not structured to meet these space expenditure plans.
The key problem is no one knows, for sure, how much the oversight process actually costs and if one form of oversight is
actually statistically better than the other. If the other processes are better, what actually drives the cost for their oversight?
DTIC
Costs; Delphi Method (Forecasting); Security; Space Law
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SPACE COMMUNICATIONS, SPACECRAFT COMMUNICATIONS, COMMAND AND TRACKING
Includes space systems telemetry; space communications networks; astronavigation and guidance; and spacecraft radio blackout. For
related information see also 04 Aircraft Communications and Navigation; and 32 Communications and Radar.
20040074329 NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH, USA
A Reconfigurable Communications System for Small Spacecraft
Kifle, Muli; Chu, Pong P.; May 2004; 16 pp.; In English
Contract(s)/Grant(s): WBS 704-60-14
Report No.(s): NASA/TM-2004-212534; E-14098; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A03, Hardcopy
Two trends of NASA missions are the use of multiple small spacecraft and the development of an integrated space
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