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MIRACL
MIRACL, or Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser, is a directed energy weapon developed by the US Navy. It is a hydrogen fluoride laser, deuterium fluoride laser, a type of chemical laser. The MIRACL laser first became operational in 1980. It can produce over a megawatt of output for up to 70 seconds, making it the most powerful continuous wave (CW) laser in the US. 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 a facility () in the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The beam size in the resonator is about wide. The beam is then reshaped to a square. Amid much controversy in October 1997, MIRACL was tested against Miniature Sensor Technology Integration-3, MSTI-3, a United States Air Force, US Air ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miniature Sensor Technology Integration-3
Miniature Sensor Technology Integration-3 (MSTI-3) was a technology demonstration satellite operated by the United States Air Force. It was equipped with two infrared cameras and one visible light camera, designed to survey Earth's surface features and characterize their appearance in infrared wavelengths. MSTI-3 launched on 17 May 1996 aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation, Orbital Sciences Pegasus (rocket), Pegasus rocket. Spacecraft MSTI-3 was a small satellite that measured high, in diameter, and including propellant. Power was supplied by a single, three-faceted GaAs solar array mounted to one side of the spacecraft, providing an average of 291 watts at launch and 225 watts at end of life. A set of three reaction wheels provided Three-axis stabilization, attitude control, while hydrazine thrusters allowed for coarse maneuvering and angular momentum, momentum control. Global Positioning System equipment was added to provide enhanced orbital position information ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy C. Kirtland. The military and the international airport share the same runways, making ABQ a joint civil-military airport. Kirtland AFB is the largest installation in Air Force Global Strike Command and sixth largest in the United States Air Force. The base occupies 51,558 acres and employs over 23,000 people, including more than 4,200 active duty and 1,000 Guard, plus 3,200 part-time Reserve personnel. In 2000, Kirtland AFB's economic impact on the City of Albuquerque was over $2.7 billion. Kirtland is the home of the Air Force Materiel Command's Nuclear Weapons Center (NWC). The NWC's responsibilities include acquisition, modernization and sustainment of nuclear system programs for both the Department of Defense and Department of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Laser
A chemical laser is a laser that obtains its energy from a chemical reaction. Chemical lasers can reach continuous wave output with power reaching to megawatt levels. They are used in industry for cutting and drilling. Common examples of chemical lasers are the chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL), all gas-phase iodine laser (AGIL), and the hydrogen fluoride (HF) and deuterium fluoride (DF) lasers, all operating in the mid-infrared region. There is also a DF–CO2 laser ( deuterium fluoride–carbon dioxide), which, like COIL, is a "transfer laser." The HF and DF lasers are unusual, in that there are several molecular energy transitions with sufficient energy to cross the threshold required for lasing. Since the molecules do not collide frequently enough to re-distribute the energy, several of these laser modes operate either simultaneously, or in extremely rapid succession, so that an HF or DF laser appears to operate simultaneously on several wavelengths unless a wavele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrogen Fluoride Laser
The hydrogen fluoride laser is an infrared chemical laser. It is capable of delivering continuous output power in the megawatt range. Hydrogen fluoride lasers operate at the wavelength of 2.7-2.9 µm. This wavelength is absorbed by the atmosphere, effectively attenuating the beam and reducing its reach, unless used in a vacuum environment. However, when deuterium is used instead of hydrogen, the deuterium fluoride lases at the wavelength of about 3.8 µm. This makes the deuterium fluoride laser usable for terrestrial operations. Deuterium fluoride laser The deuterium fluoride laser constructionally resembles a rocket engine. In the combustion chamber, ethylene is burned in nitrogen trifluoride. This reaction produces free excited fluorine radicals. Just after the nozzle, the mixture of helium and hydrogen or deuterium gas is injected to the exhaust stream; the hydrogen or deuterium reacts with the fluorine radicals, producing excited molecules of deuterium fluoride ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspapers and broadcasters. The AP has earned 56 Pulitzer Prizes, including 34 for photography, since the award was established in 1917. It is also known for publishing the widely used '' AP Stylebook''. By 2016, news collected by the AP was published and republished by more than 1,300 newspapers and broadcasters, English, Spanish, and Arabic. The AP operates 248 news bureaus in 99 countries. It also operates the AP Radio Network, which provides newscasts twice hourly for broadcast and satellite radio and television stations. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, paying a fee to use AP material without being contributing members of the cooperative. As part of their cooperative agreement with the AP, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Lasers
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct military uniform. It may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of the military is usually defined as defence of the state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms ''armed forces'' and ''military'' are often treated as synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other paramilitary forces. There are various forms of irregular military forces, not belonging to a recognized state; though they share many attributes with regular military forces, they are less often referred to as simply ''military''. A nation's military may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Lasers
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent Chemical element, elements by physical separation methods, i.e., without breaking chemical bonds. Chemical substances can be simple substances (substances consisting of a single chemical element), chemical compounds, or alloys. Chemical substances are often called 'pure' to set them apart from mixtures. A common example of a chemical substance is pure Water (molecule), water; it has the same properties and the same atomic ratio, ratio of hydrogen to oxygen whether it is isolated from a river or made in a laboratory. Other chemical substances commonly encountered in pure form are diamond (carbon), gold, Edible salt, table salt (sodium chloride) and refined sugar (sucrose). However, in practice, no substance is entirely pure, and chemical purity is specified according to the intended use of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
