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MIRACL

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SeaLite Beam Director, commonly used as the output for the MIRACL.

MIRACL, or Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser, is a directed energy weapon developed by the US Navy. It is a deuterium fluoride laser, a type of chemical laser.

The MIRACL laser first became operational in 1980.[1] It can produce over a megawatt of output for up to 70 seconds,[2] making it the most powerful continuous wave (CW) laser in the US.[3]: 5  Its original goal was to be able to track and destroy anti-ship cruise missiles, but in later years it was used to test phenomenologies associated with national anti-ballistic and anti-satellite laser weapons. Originally tested at a contractor facility in California, as of the later 1990s and early 2000s, it was located at the former MAR-1 facility (32°37′55″N 106°19′55″W / 32.632°N 106.332°W / 32.632; -106.332) in the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.[4]

The beam size in the resonator is about 21 by 3 cm (8.3 by 1.2 in) wide. The beam is then reshaped to a 14 cm × 14 cm (5.5 in × 5.5 in) square.[2]

Amid much controversy in October 1997, MIRACL was tested against MSTI-3, a US Air Force satellite at the end of its original mission in orbit[5] at a distance of 432 km (268 mi).[6] MIRACL failed during the test and was damaged[7]: 1  and the Pentagon claimed mixed results for other portions of the test. A second, lower-powered chemical laser was able to temporarily blind the MSTI-3 sensors during the test.[8]: 170 [9]: 7 

References

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  1. ^ "MIRACL". White Sands Missile Range. New Mexico: United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command. 9 April 2002. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2022. The Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) is the first megawatt-class, continuous wave, chemical laser built in the free world. It is a deuterium fluoride (DF) chemical laser with energy spectra distributed among about ten lasing lines between 3.6 and 4.0 microns wavelength. Since it first lased in 1980, it has accumulated well over 3500 seconds of lasing time.
  2. ^ a b Pike, John; Sherman, Robert (21 March 1998). "Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL)". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  3. ^ Airborne Laser (YAL-1A) (PDF) (Technical report). Kirtland Air Force Base: Airborne Laser System Program Office, United States Air Force. 27 February 2003. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2022. Later tests also were conducted at White Sands Missile Range aimed at finding out how effective a laser would be. For these tests, the nation's most powerful laser, the Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser, was used.
  4. ^ "Secretary Of Defense Approves Laser Experiment To Improve Satellite Protection" (Press release). U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs). 2 October 1997. Archived from the original on 17 March 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2022. The experiment is being conducted by the U.S. Army's Mid-Infra-Red Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) located at White Sands Missile Range, NM. The satellite that will be used for the test, the U.S. Air Force Miniature Sensor Technology Integration program's third satellite (MSTI-3), has exceeded its useful lifetime. The experiment will have two parts: (1) very brief laser illuminations of less than one second, and (2) an illumination of less than 10 seconds.
  5. ^ Plante, Chris (20 October 1997). "Pentagon beams over military laser test". CNN. Washington. Associated Press, Reuters. Archived from the original on 30 December 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2022. The announcement of Friday's laser test caused some political rock-throwing in and outside of Washington because of claims by some that the test is the first step in the militarization of space and a potential violation of treaties. [...] The Miniature Sensor Technology Integration (MSTI-3) satellite was "illuminated" by a high-powered, ground-based laser housed at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico shortly after dark on Friday evening.
  6. ^ Zack, Ed (10 September 1998). "Miniature Sensor Technology Integration (MSTI) (U)". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 31 October 2000. Retrieved 30 September 2022. The MSTI 3 satellite served as a target for the US Armys Mid-Infra-Red Advance Chemical Laser (MIRACL) at White Sands, NM, to demonstrate the capability of a laser to interfere with the optical train, and analyze the data to determine the effect on the optics. The test consisted of a 1 sec burst to locate the satellite, followed by a 10 sec burst. This was the first test of a LASER against an orbiting satellite.
  7. ^ Bull, Leona C. (11 December 1997). "MIRACL damaged in experiment". Aerotech News and Review: 1. ISSN 1094-7302. OCLC 56975066. Archived from the original on 5 August 2003. Retrieved 30 September 2022. The Mid-Infrared Chemical Laser was slightly damaged twice during tests against the Air Force's Miniature Sensor Technology Integration (MSTI-3) satellite in October. The purpose of the tests was to evaluate the effect of the laser on the satellite's infrared sensors. [...] Program experts believe that when the power was ramped up, a shock wave in the gases within the deuterium fluoride laser resulted, and caused it to move, which then caused a small amount of melting inside the device.
  8. ^ Koplow, David A. (30 November 2009). "Chapter 7 – Antisatellite Weapons". Death by Moderation: The U.S. Military's Quest for Useable Weapons (First ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 150–187. ISBN 978-0521119511. LCCN 2009017285. OCLC 320434538. OL 23223530M. Retrieved 30 September 2022 – via Internet Archive. p. 170: In any event, the outcome of the test was remarkable: although the MIRACL laser itself basically failed, a lower-powered companion laser, intended merely to align the system and track the satellite, proved sufficiently powerful to blind the target satellite temporarily without destroying or damaging the onboard sensors. Few had anticipated that what was essentially a piece of commercially available apparatus could have such militarily significant effects.
  9. ^ Grego, Laura (January 2012). A History Of Anti-Satellite Programs (PDF). Global Security Program. Union of Concerned Scientists (Report). p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 July 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022. Both the MIRACL laser, which was damaged during the test, and a lower-power (30-watt) laser primarily intended for system alignment and satellite tracking were used. Results of the test are classified, but the DOD did report that the system tracked and illuminated the satellite, and the lower-power laser either temporarily dazzled or damaged the satellite's sensor.

Further reading

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