Oct 21 1997
From The Space Library
The Pentagon announced that it had successfully tested its Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL), at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The laser, constructed under President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, generated a beam that traveled more than 260 miles (418 kilometers) from Earth, hitting an orbiting satellite. According to Pentagon representative U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert Potter, if turned to its highest setting, MIRACL would have destroyed the satellite target. The test, which took place two years after the expiration of a 1985 congressional ban on tests of this type, was the first time the United States had tested a laser aimed at an orbiting satellite. Representatives of defense-related industries and scientists around the world debated the acceptability of such a test and the ethics of deploying the instrument. However, whether or not the test was justifiable, the successful hit had demonstrated the vulnerability of satellites to Earth-based weapons.
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