https://www.llnl.gov/archives/1980s/brilliant-pebbles Skip to main content * Our Purpose * Our Science and Technology * Join Our Team * Partner with Us * News * Community and Education * About LLNL Logo Primary Menu * Our Purpose + Our Mission + Management and Sponsors + Our History o Our History - 1950s o Our History - 1960s o Our History - 1970s o Our History - 1980s o Our History - 1990s o Our History - 2000s o Our History - 2010s o Our History - 2020s * Our Science and Technology + Advanced Materials and Manufacturing + Bioscience & Bioengineering + Earth and Atmospheric Science + Facilities and Centers + High-Energy-Density Science + HPC, Simulation and Data Science + Lasers and Optical Science and Technology + Nuclear, Chemical and Isotopic Science and Technology * Join Our Team + Careers o Career Areas o Students o Postdocs o Events & Resources o LCA Notifications o Affiliate Opportunities o Accessibility + Culture + Diversity * Partner With Us * News + Media Contacts + Media Library + Publications + Lab Report + Fact Sheets + Social Media * Community and Education + Discovery Center + Community Giving + Science Education + Environment, Safety, and Health + SWEIS + Employee and Retirement Resources o Want Ads o In Memoriam + Tours * About LLNL + Our Leadership + By the Numbers + Our Organizations o Operations and Business + Protocol and Special Events + Visiting + Directions + Contact Search [ ] Search Search [ ] Search Mobile Menu Site Menu * Our Purpose * Our Science and Technology * Join Our Team * Partner With Us * News * Community and Education * About LLNL LLNL Menu * Missions * Research * Doing Business * News * About * Careers * Community Our Science and Technology Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Bioscience and Bioengineering Earth and Atmospheric Science Facilities, Centers and Institutes High Energy Density Science HPC, Simulation and Data Science Lasers & Optical Science and Technology Nuclear, Chemical & Isotopic Science and Technology Learn How We Make Science and Technology Happen We support diverse research activities with talented staff, state-of-the-art facilities and core competencies. From internal collaboration to external partnerships, we work together to advance scientific discovery. Learn More About Our Science and Technology Our Science and Technology Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Bioscience and Bioengineering Earth and Atmospheric Science Facilities, Centers and Institutes High Energy Density Science HPC, Simulation and Data Science Lasers & Optical Science and Technology Nuclear, Chemical & Isotopic Science and Technology Learn How We Make Science and Technology Happen We support diverse research activities with talented staff, state-of-the-art facilities and core competencies. From internal collaboration to external partnerships, we work together to advance scientific discovery. Learn More About Our Science and Technology 1. Home 2. Brilliant Pebbles Brilliant Pebbles Brilliant Pebbles (Excerpted from: "Adapting to a Changing Weapons Program," Science & Technology Review, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, January 2001.) In March 1983, President Reagan unveiled a new vision of national security based on protecting lives rather than threatening them. This announcement kicked off the Strategic Defense Initiative--popularly known as Star Wars--that invigorated weapons work at Livermore. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) included so-called third-generation, or nuclear directed-energy, weapons. Design teams began studies of the nuclear-powered x-ray laser as a candidate defense technology and explored the physics of such weapons in underground nuclear tests. The main focus of SDI, however, was on developing an effective nonnuclear defense, and two prominent efforts at Livermore were work on free-electron lasers and Brilliant Pebbles. O Group, which was led by Lowell Wood and included many extremely talented young scientists, originated the Brilliant Pebbles concept, and the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) began funding Livermore for Brilliant Pebbles R&D in 1987. Brilliant Pebbles were to be small, lightweight spacecraft that could stop advanced ballistic missiles and their components in boost phase by colliding with them at high speeds. On command, a global constellation of these nonnuclear spacecraft could detect and destroy missiles without any external help. Because of the system's attractive low-cost and survivability attributes, Brilliant Pebbles became a baseline system in SDIO's Strategic Defense System Phase I Architecture in 1990. With the winding down of the Cold War, this architecture was scaled-back to become Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS) and still included Brilliant Pebbles. In 1994, plans were further scaled back to theater missile defense only and work on Brilliant Pebbles was discontinued. However, before program cancellation, SDIO carried out the Clementine Deep Space Experiment, spectacularly demonstrating Brilliant Pebbles technologies. 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