The Mount Haleakala laser to be used on the 3,175-pound payload has a special flexible mirror for distorting the laser beam on Earth to compensate for atmospheric disturbances.
When an Air Force station atop Mount Haleakala 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 Mount Haleakala laser to be used on LACE is equipped with a special flexible mirror designed to pre-distort the laser beam on Earth in such a way that the expected atmospheric disturbances will erase the distortion.