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with related programs as part of one plan for the nation with a common end state. This should include continuing investments in ARES, Falcon family, and CAV; and supporting Navy and NASA on hypersonic propulsion technology. 7) Establish structured partnerships within military, civil, and commercial space specifically targeting rapid, responsive suborbital and orbital spacelift. Getting to Space on a Thread: Space Elevator as Alternative Access to Space Jason R. Kent, Major, USAF Assured access to space is essential for the USAF. The space elevator, a concept where a tether is used to lift cargo and personnel into space, provides the means to meet this need. This one-meter wide tether will reach from the surface of the Earth to a point some 62,000 miles up. The base of the ribbon will be attached to a floating platform while the space end of the tether will extend past geosynchronous orbit to a counter weight. Twenty ton vehicles called lifters are powered by ground-based lasers and travel 125 miles per hour on this tether, cheaply carrying heavy loads. Of these 20 tons, about thirteen would be pure cargo, 65 percent of the total weight compared to about five percent for current launch vehicles. The technology which makes the space elevator possible is the carbon nano-tube (CNT), a material that is theoretically more than one hundred times stronger and ten times lighter than steel. A space elevator is estimated to cost $10-15 billion (compare this to the cost of a single shuttle mission costing $500 million). Follow-on threads would be much cheaper, about $3 billion, since the research and development and support infrastructure would already be established. For the initial $10 billion investment, the cost per pound into space would drop from $10,000 to $100. The USAF,
as the DoD Executive Agent for Space, can lead the U.S. in developing and deploying this alternate means of accessing space in support of DoD missions. Recommendations: 1) Monitor the maturation of nanotechnology which may enable the space elevator to become a reality. 2) Consider the space elevator as a viable space launch alternative in the 2030 time frame. Splitting the Atom on the Way to the Moon and Beyond: Nuclear Reactors in Space Chris Hamilton, Major, USAF With the probable increase in both commercial and foreign utilization and potential militarization of space during the next two decades, the U.S. needs to monitor and encourage the pursuit of technologies that will enhance our capability for military operations in space. Space nuclear reactors (SNR) provide compact, long duration, continuous high power generation, without a dependence on line-of-sight to or distance from the sun. They can enable or greatly enhance many space force application, space force enhancement, counter space, and space support missions. However, this technology has significant political, legal, and safety constraints that must be dealt with during all stages of development and operations. While there does not appear to be any near-term military requirement for the capabilities that space nuclear reactors (SNR) can provide, this technology becomes essential in any future scenario where state-to-state tensions are high and political constraints against weaponizing space are ineffectual. The USAF now needs the capability to at least monitor advances of nuclear reactor or associated critical technologies. Intelligence activities should include evaluation of foreign advances in this arena due to the capabilities it could provide to an adversary. DoD and the USAF should encourage any NASA or DoE effort to advance these technology areas or to boost the
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ……
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Splitting the Atom on the Way to th
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Findings Warfare is changing in fun
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programs to meet the changing envir
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particles, photons moving at the sp
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General Recommendations 1. The USAF
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to coping with emerging technologie
Page 19 and 20: Conclusion The Horizon 21 study was
Page 21 and 22: The initial study was comprised of
Page 23 and 24: After completion of the research pa
Page 25 and 26: Supercomputers will be able to “t
Page 27 and 28: The ideas of 1920 that generated th
Page 29 and 30: that this concept be continually te
Page 31 and 32: for to be either immersive OR inter
Page 33 and 34: vulnerabilities to the cyber domain
Page 35 and 36: networks. 4) The Air Force should a
Page 37 and 38: the past, such as the industrial re
Page 39 and 40: environment like “Virtual Flag”
Page 41 and 42: toward ever-smaller sensor and sens
Page 43 and 44: and electronics and computing. This
Page 45 and 46: gains to offset reduction in size.
Page 47 and 48: 2 The petroleum fuel alternative mu
Page 49 and 50: hostile to the U.S., thus computati
Page 51 and 52: differentiation of stem cells into
Page 53 and 54: Recommendations: 1) The direct ener
Page 55 and 56: and overwhelms the decision-making
Page 57 and 58: importance of lasers in sustaining
Page 59 and 60: ensure it remains ahead of potentia
Page 61 and 62: launch less-capable satellites rout
Page 63 and 64: term partnering incentive industry
Page 65 and 66: shortcomings imposed by the atmosph
Page 67 and 68: 2) Once the Air Force fields SAS, i
Page 69: equires maturation of a several tec
Page 73 and 74: provide dynamic and vertically-inte
Page 75 and 76: Joel “Spicoli” Luker, Major, US
Page 77 and 78: four areas: biotechnology, nanotech
Page 79 and 80: weapons for time-sensitive targets.
Page 81 and 82: increase situational awareness for
Page 83 and 84: merged RFID, GPS (Global Positionin
Page 85 and 86: gap and enable ubiquitous, fast-res
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