Comparison of Laser and Neutral Particle Beam Discrimination

Abstract

The relative ability of lasers and neutral particle beams (NPBs) to discriminate reentry vehicle (RV) and anti-satellite (ASAT) decoys is pivotal in assessing their relative worth as strategic defenses. This report evaluates their ability and assesses their relative contributions, concluding that NPBs can typically discriminate about 100 times as many objects as can lasers, and do so with significantly greater certainty.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA344854

Entities

People

  • Gregory H. Canavan

Organizations

  • Los Alamos National Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boost Phase
  • Chemical Lasers
  • Detectors
  • Directed Energy Weapons
  • Energy
  • Governments
  • Laser Beams
  • Lasers
  • Materials
  • Neutral Particle Beams
  • Particle Beams
  • Particles
  • Pulsed Lasers
  • Trajectories
  • United States
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Missile Defense Systems.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster
  • Space - Orbital Debris
  • Space - Space Objects