NASA ER-2 to Check Out MABEL Laser Altimeter

NASA's ER-2 Earth Resources aircraft No. 806 will be flying high-altitude missions over Greenland this spring to validate the accuracy of the newly developed Multiple Altimeter Beam Experiment Lidar. (NASA / Tony Landis)

A NASA ER-2 Earth Resources aircraft based at NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., will be flying a number of high-altitude missions over five weeks this spring to validate the accuracy of a new laser altimeter.


The high-flying ER-2 is scheduled to depart Palmdale on March 22 for a deployment base in Keflavik, Iceland, to test Goddard's Multiple Altimeter Beam Experiment Lidar, or MABEL, that simulates a similar instrument planned for NASA's IceSat-2 environmental satellite scheduled for launch in 2016.

Although not directly connected to the Spring 2012 Operation IceBridge Arctic polar ice survey, the ER-2 flights will be conducted concurrently with many of the same flight tracks being flown by IceBridge mission aircraft.

Operation IceBridge, conducted in the Arctic in March and April and the Antarctic during October and November, is the largest survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown. Although not participating in the Arctic study this spring, NASA's DC-8 flying science laboratory, also based in Palmdale, participates annually in the Antarctic study and has participated in the Arctic study in past years.

Learn more about the 2012 Operation IceBridge Arctic campaign at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/

US Airborne Laser Shoots down a Ballistic Missile

A high-energy laser mounted on a US military aircraft has shot down a ballistic missile in the first successful test of the weapon, the US Missile Defense Agency said on Friday.

The experiment -- evoking a scene out of a science fiction film -- was carried out off the central California coast at Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center at 8:44 pm Thursday Pacific time (0444 GMT), the agency said in a statement.

"The Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile," it said.

The laser, mounted on a turret on the nose of a modified 747 aircraft, is designed to knock out an enemy missile by burning a hole in its side.

The project has been touted as potentially revolutionary, as the lasers are supposed to destroy ballistic missiles just after launch, when the missiles are moving at a slower speed on a predictable path.

The test could provide a boost to the five billion dollar program that has faced technical problems and been scaled back from initial plans that called for building a fleet of seven laser-equipped aircraft.

Last year Defense Secretary Robert Gates cancelled funds for a second prototype aircraft and called for more research to refine the weapon. He said the proposed role for the laser remained "highly questionable" amid questions about its cost and effectiveness.