Page 181 - MY STORY

NASA money to get some really great experimental

design data, but nothing new or revolutionary that would
let us predict behavior within and beyond the limits of the
experimental conditions and prior knowledge.

Needless to say, the principal investigators (my guy and
the strength guy) and our CRAD manager were incensed

by my having the temerity to refute all their hard work. It
also meant they would have to tell NASA that the linear
regression analytical tool didn’t work. I made it clear that

the report would not be released in its current form and a
rewrite was required to tell the truth. I’m not sure I was

ever forgiven for holding “feet to the fire” by those
involved.

LASER WEAPONS — WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

1976-1984 The world of High Energy Lasers (HEL’s)
began to blossom in the 1970’s. Our west coast brethren

were trying to find ways to put HEL’s on ships as a
weapon system. Our MDRL folk were in the business of
trying to invent chemical HEL’s that could be used as

weapons. Our aircraft folk across the street were trying to
see if fighter aircraft could employ lasers as a weapon
against other aircraft. The intelligence community in

DoD was absolutely sure that the Soviets were doing the