Zenith Star was a Directed-energy weapon that started development as part of the US Strategic Defense Initiative.[1]
It included the Alpha laser, a high energy hydrogen fluoride chemical laser, and the LAMP mirror which was a 7 segment adaptive optics mirror.[2]
Zenith Star was never put in orbit, but the Alpha LAMP Integration (ALI) project carried out some ground-based tests.[3]: 20
History
editThe Zenith Star program was a key component of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), popularly known as "Star Wars," which aimed to create a space-based ballistic missile defense system. Initiated in the mid-1980s, Zenith Star represented an ambitious attempt to develop and deploy a chemical laser weapon in space.
Following SDI's establishment in 1984, the office took over directed-energy weapons research from DARPA. By 1986, with more exotic technologies like nuclear X-ray lasers still far from realization, the chemical laser became the focus for near-term deployment.[4] In December 1986, President Reagan made a secret decision to accelerate the program, aiming for a space-based test of Zenith Star by 1990, four years earlier than originally planned.[5]
The Zenith Star spacecraft as designed was massive, measuring 80 feet long and over 40 feet in diameter, with a weight exceeding 43 tons.[6] It incorporated TRW's "Alpha chemical laser", a large focusing mirror, and advanced targeting systems. Construction was managed by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space Company. Despite its presidential support and very large budget, the program faced significant technical challenges, schedule delays, and funding issues. By 1989, every component was at least a year behind schedule.[7] The end of the Cold War ultimately led to the program's apparent cancellation in the early 1990s, yet it laid the groundwork for subsequent directed-energy weapons research.
Legacy
editAround 1998 Space-Based lasers were reconsidered and led to the Space Based Laser - Integrated Flight eXperiment (SBL-IFX) project 2000-2002.[8][9]
See also
edit- Project Excalibur – Anti-missile system using an X-ray laser powered by a nuclear bomb
References
edit- ^ AND THEN THERE WAS ZENITH STAR. 1987
- ^ Zenith Star: An SDI demonstration 1987 2 pages, with 3 photos
- ^ Adaptive Optics Engineering Handbook
- ^ Strategic Defense Initiative Program:Zenith Star Space-Based Chemical Laser Experiment Government Accountability Office (GAO) NSIAD-89-118. Published: Apr 14, 1989. Publicly Released: May 15, 1989.
- ^ Zenith Star: America’s 1980s Attempt at Weaponizing Lasers in Space. The National Interest, 27 September 2021.
- ^ Zenith Star Support Experiment Design. Report PL-TR-94-1131. Pub. May 1995. Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space Company, Inc, Albuquerque, NM. Report sponsored by Philips Laboratory, Kirtland AFB.
- ^ Strategic Defense Initiative Program:Zenith Star Space-Based Chemical Laser Experiment Government Accountability Office (GAO) - Pgs. 3 to 4
- ^ The Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment: Global Missile Defense in the Boost Phase Team SBL
- ^ Overview of the space-based laser (SBL) program J.F.Riker 2002
Further reading
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