2 Satellites Orbited for ‘Star Wars’ Experiments

Two satellites rocketed into space Wednesday on what the Air Force said was the most ambitious “Star Wars” experiment yet, testing a plan to destroy hostile missiles by bouncing laser beams off orbiting mirrors.

One satellite carried a mirror designed to reflect lasers fired from a Hawaiian mountaintop back to a ground target to test the accuracy of such a system.

The other held sensors for measuring how successfully scientists can correct distortions caused by dust, moisture and gases as the beam shoots through the atmosphere.

The satellites were carried into orbit by a 12-story Delta rocket.

A success in the $313-million mission could help preserve the $4.5 billion that President Bush is seeking for research in budget year 1991 for “Star Wars,” formally known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. Some members of Congress want to cut that amount.

In the missile intercepting project called Relay Mirror Experiment, two ground stations on Maui, Hawaii, will aim low-powered laser beams simultaneously at the 2,300-pound satellite orbiting 270 miles above Earth. The satellite holds a 24-inch mirror designed to point a laser beam with an error of less than 57 millionths of a degree.

The experiment will use the first two beams as signals to orient its mirror. When an Air Force station atop Haleakala Crater aims another beam at the satellite, the beam should reflect off the mirror and strike a sensor target at the base of the mountain 12 miles away.

The second satellite, called LACE, for Low-Power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment, has a set of 210 sensors in a square measuring 13 feet on each side.

The Haleakala laser has a special flexible mirror to distort the laser beam on Earth to compensate for atmospheric disturbances. The beam should be sharp and powerful by the time it reaches LACE, orbiting 340 miles high.