According to the Encyclopedia Astronautica, "That model was a refurbished version of a Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) metal mock-up made in the 1960s. http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/barianmm.htm, Zenith Star may have had some useful spin-offs in the civilian world. When the MOL program was cancelled, the useless bit of tankage had been sold as scrap to a Colorado farmer.
[3]: 20. In the generation since Zenith Star, advances in computers, optics and power have solved many of the problems daunting the weaponeers of the 1980s. It was to be a … [3]:20, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zenith_Star&oldid=849674518, Articles with empty sections from April 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 10 July 2018, at 15:38. In thinking that humans are gender neutral. Kinda wish there was a Paul Harvey “And that’s the rest of the story” on this. But the impressive mock-up was a long way from the real thing, and not just because it was a prop. In order for that sort of thing to work, there’d have to be a lot of really powerful, really accurate, really reliable lasers in orbit. Two-year, no fuss warranty and constant customer service. No image shifting!
That’s the same sort of technology used today in large ground-mounted astronomical telescopes with multi-segment main mirrors, where a laser “star” is fired into the upper atmosphere, and the telescope constantly makes subtle changes to the mirror segments to keep it in perfect focus despite atmospheric turbulence – giving the telescope the ability to generate images nearly as clear as the Hubble Space Telescope. There were some interesting launcher proposals that led up to the notional SDI launch vehicle, ALS, one of them being: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19860001749_1986001749.pdf, […] Zentih Star was the name of a little known program to develop a space-based anti-missile laser during the Reagan SDI days. The Alpha laser used the reaction of fluorine with hydrogen to generate the laser energy… about two megawatts worth. In the generation since Zenith Star, advances in computers, optics and power have solved many of the problems daunting the weaponeers of the 1980s. The weapon would have made up just one part of a multi-layered defense system. According to an article that appeared in Defense Daily on December 14th, 1989, 15 Zenith Star satellites were to be built and launched into space, so it sounds like this was going to be the beginning of a operational system. We are very excited to announce the new 2018 Super ZenithStar 103 F6.9 imaging APO! Just because it never left the ground doesn't mean it didn't work. Sometime in 1987, President Reagan got his wish to see his vision. And here we go: If the ending is a little confusing, this is a sequel to THIS. Wrapped in gold foil, its exhaust port hatches open and its huge mirror bright, the giant prop emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes suggested how serious Reagan's vision was becoming. Zenith Star was a Directed-energy weapon that started development as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Strategic Defense Initiative Program : Zenith Star Space-Based Chemical Laser Experiment: Report to the Honorable J. Bennett Johnston, U.S. Senate. Integration contractor Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) proposed lofting this monster atop a super-sized version of its Titan missile, a four-engine beast appropriately named the Barbarian. As incandescent hydrogen fluoride from the turbo-reactor roared out the exhaust ports to form a gigantic gaseous cross, a seven-foot-wide lightsaber blade hotter than the Space Shuttle's engines would spear into the darkness to vaporize metal and detonate rocket fuel thousands of miles away. Can Beijing be as powerful as America by then? It was to be a massive spacecraft, the size of a semi: eighty feet long, over forty feet in diameter, over forty-three tons’ mass.
A skeptical Democratic Congress refused to fully fund a program they thought both impractical and dangerous—dangerous especially to arms-control treaties. Steve Weintz, a frequent contributor to many publications such as WarIsBoring, is a writer, filmmaker, artist, animator. By 1991, when the Alpha laser was publicly revealed, President Reagan's grand vision had morphed into a smaller enterprise focused on conventional anti-missile missiles. Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB6 2NZ Telephone Hours: Monday to Friday - 10:00am-4:00pm Our showroom is currently closed for visits until further notice.