European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Booing 767 aircraft and Itie first firing of a nou Lral particle beam in space. A so scheduled for next year is the lofting of three satellites one Laden Wilh sensors to track Rockel plumes one carrying a Mirror off which Earlh based laser beams Wilt be bounced and one loaded with. Sensors mean to study How Well atmospheric distortions can be removed from such laser beams. While most Star wars tests to Date have lasted Only a Short Lime some of the new experiments will operate Over the course of months and even years air Force u. Gen James a. Abrahamson director of the strategic defense initiative organization recently told the National press club thai his program has entered a phase in which it is bringing Forward just a massive wave of  even ii pics. Who have Long questioned the feasibility and Wisdom of the anti missile project concede that the program is making headway you be finally got real hardware coming out the end of. The pipeline said John e. Piko head of space policy for the Washington based federation of american scientists. In terms of tunning an actual Star wars system most of these tests have much to be modes about hut it s nonetheless real hardware As opposed to cheap parlor tricks indeed critics say some of the experiments Are slotting to undercut the 1972 anti ballistic missile treaty which seeks to limit Hie testing of prototype anti missile arms. A healed dispute has Arisen in recent years Over the coned interpretation of the treaty. The defense department seems Bent on stretching the ambiguities to the limit and beyond said Matthew Bunn a senior an Tysl at Iho private non Profil arms control association in Washington. . Pentagon officials vigorously deny Hal charge. Insisting that the tests Are carefully designed to push technology to the limit while remaining wholly consistent with treaty obligations. The biggest experiments Sel for next year have sparked some Points of controversy. Airborne sensor. Behind schedule and Over budget the �520 million project known officially As Iho airborne optical adjunct features a Boeing 767 aircraft that has an 86-foot-Long cupola welded to its top. A giant infrared sensor is soon to to mounted inside next summer the aircraft is to make its Maiden flight to evaluate the sensor s ability to find and track speeding missiles and warheads. A key question is whether it can sort warheads from hundreds of thousands of decoys and bits of debris which an  Scalier to try to defeat any defensive system. While Boeing is the project s main contractor the 5-5 Ion sensor was built by Hughes aircraft co. Packed with 38.400 defectors it is to look Lor lain Rel rated rays emitted by relatively warm objects in space such As warheads and missiles. Army col. Gary m. Stewart the project manager a Iho army s strategic Welense come in Huntsville Ala said it was inherently challenging to try to make the diverse pieces of the giant sensor work together. Flights of the aircraft Are to occur around Hawaii and Kwajalein atoll in the South Pacific. Will track missiles launched from Vandenberg fab calif., whose mock warheads land at Kwajalein atoll. It also might observe submarine launched missiles. Of All the Star wars experiments slated for next year critics say this one comes closest to violating the abm treaty since it might actually serve As the basis for an anti missile sensor used in War. Pentagon experts deny this saying the sensor is. Highly experimental research and nol a prototype. System. \r-1--. Particle beam. The $45 million beam. Experiment aboard rocket or Bear is a los Alamos National Laboratory project that will loll a Small. 1 25 ton particle accelerator irom the White Sands missile Range in new Mexico to a height of about 125 Miles where it is to pave the Way far applications As a highly discriminating sensor the Experiment is scheduled Tor april. The Booster will be a 40-foot-Long Arias rocket a reconditioned minuteman icbms the accelerator housed n a Cylinder about 14 feel Long and 3.5 Leet in diameter is to shoot Neutral Hydrogen atoms unaffected by the Earlh s magnetism As atomic bullets into space while particle beams have been lived in controlled Laboratory condition on the ground Bear will be the first time the technology has been tested in space Kenneth Mckenna Deputy director of the project at los Alamos also located in new Mexico said in a Sale men we believe it will work Well bul in the Case of any Experiment there Are  planned for this Spring the Experiment will last 200 seconds during which measurements will be made of the beam s strength and Quality. Speeding particles will zip anywhere from 650 feet to six Miles depending on the density of Earlh s outer atmosphere at the time of Tho Experiment. Such beams Are designed to solve one of the most perplexing problems lacing a Star wars system discriminating Between enemy warheads and decoys. When the beam strikes a warhead or a Decoy it produces characteristic emanations that make it possible or additional sensors to different ale the targets. A More powerful beam might be Able to destroy missiles and warheads Bear s has a strength of one million Electron volts. Los Alamos is working on a bigger project known As the ground test accelerator that is to have a sir Ertith of 100 million of Lecron volts which is considered Strong enough to be a space weapon. Homing warhead. Its first in Ghl lest set Tor next. Year the High end atmospheric Welense interceptor or Hedi is a hit to kill homing Rockel meant to smash into enemy warheads at speeds up to 10.000 mites per hour As they enter the Earth s atmosphere. A Tost warhead atop the rocket that is to Fly from White Sands weighs 866 pounds bul project managers Hope that future miniaturization of components will reduce the weight of an operational warhead to 375 pounds. The project began in january 1986 under a contract valued at $331 million. Mcdonnell Douglas astronautics co. Is the prime contractor. Afan d. Sherer the project manager at the army s strategic defense come said the toughest problems Wilh Hedi were trying to Cool the warhead with gaseous nitrogen so us infrared sensor could see the heat. Signature of targets and having the sensor get in accurate us on targets despite the Shock Waves generated As the warhead speeds through the  Lisl flight of Hedi will involve no target Sherer said bul will simply test the flight worthiness of the Complex interceptor on a second Light scheduled Lor 1990, the interceptor will try to Speed past a burning Hare. On the third flight in 1991, the interceptor will iry to hit a target. Space Mirror. Behind schedule and Over budget the relay Mirror Experiment features a 1. Is ton four by seven foot cylindrical satellite that is 10 orbit the Earth Tor about six months with a two foot Mirror pointed toward the ground. The satellite was Buill by Ball aerospace in Boulder Colo. At the air Force optical Slation Slop Malc Akala on the hawaiian Island of Maui a Low Power laser is to repeatedly fire at the orbiting Mirror the beam flashing Back to a receiving station us 12 Miles from where it started. The satellite s orbit will allow the ground based laser to tire Al it about once a Day the goal is to show Hal a space Mirror can be pointed accurately. In a working Star wars system huge ground based lasers in the United Stales would Bounce powerful. Beams Oil fighting mirrors in space which would reflect the beams in the right direction Loiry to destroy a Island enemy missiles. Air Force maj Alan Freitag a spokesman for he strategic defense initiative organization said the Pentagon Hopes to launch relay Mirror and a related satellite late next year. Laser focus. To be launched with the relay Mirror the laser atmospheric compensation Experiment features a satellite meant to study the distorting effects of the Earlh s atmosphere on laser Baams and to what extent these can to removed. Ii is to Opp ale for More than two years. Built by the naval research Laboratory in Washington. ., the Salel Lile will study laser beams fired irom White Sands. New Mexico and Maui Hawaii seeing Haw Urell icy can be focused. The problem Lor any ground based laser is that the Earlh s Luru Lent atmosphere forms a series of lenses that distort laser fight passing through them. The Goat of the laser atmospheric compensation Experiment is to Pioneer techniques to compensate for such distortions. Before going through the atmosphere for example the laser beam can be bounced Oft adaptive optics or rubber mirrors that distort the Light to form an optical conjugate of the turbulence it is to meet. Then As it goes through the turbulent atmosphere the laser s wiggly wavefront is made smooth keeping the beam in locus and distortion free. Space sensor. Sel for launching sometime in the first Lour months of 1989, the 1130 million Delta Star satellite is to gather sensor data in a variety of wavelengths to see what the Tiery exhaust of rockets looks like from space according to major Freitag of the Stdio. Its sensors will operate in the infrared ultraviolet and visible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum Over several months rockets will be launched toward in from the surface of Earth. The satellite will also study the natural radiation background. Lofted on a Delta Rockel and to operate for up to one year the satellite is officially designated Delta 183. Two earlier Star wars satellites Delta 180 and Delta 181, performed similar sensor missions. Nearly All Star wars deployment scenarios Tea lure an orbiting satellite that tries to locate enemy missiles. Several other major and minor tests Are scheduled Lor next year including ground tests of components for a space based homing rocket and firing tests of a powerful laser known As Alpha Hal is to try in space in1993 Iri 1990, the space shuttle is scheduled to carry ils first major Star wars Mission. Tho army plans to shoot five four stage missiles toward the shuttle in an elaborate Experiment meant to see if on Board sensors can Ira Eklie missiles and. Whether the information can be used to aim a Low powered laser at them. The missiles ate to miss Hes Hundeby More than 100 Miles. The seven Day Star wars Experiment will feature seven astronauts critics say the tests planned for the coming year even if successful will in no Way enhance the theoretic feasibility of the missile defense goal. In general they say an enemy could try to defeat a defensive system by attacking it by protecting the skin. Of offensive missiles or by overwhelming it Wilh missiles decoys and hard to detect cruise missiles. Air Force it Den. James a. Abrahamson head of the strategic detente initiative organization. Lockheed Carp s concept of tale elite using infrared sensors to detecting bait the mall let. Nebr 16.19bb the stars and stripes Page 15