HAARP Probing Northern
Lights The single most contentious question in science at the
end of the 20th century isn't about evolution, the origin of the
universe or human cloning, but, "What is the government really up to
near Gakona, Alaska?" Officially, this 33-acre gravel pad near the Tok
Highway 180 miles northeast of Anchorage is the home of the
high-frequency active auroral research program
(HAARP). Depending upon who you ask for a more detailed description,
HAARP is either a futuristic weapon, a scientific research project, a
global mind control scheme-rivaling network TV-or the cause of a
reptilian invasion from another dimension. In addition to its real
functions-which we will get to in a moment-HAARP has replaced the
magic-pellet gasoline substitute
as the great techno-legend of our time. (The magic pellet, by the way,
is actually calcium carbide. It reacts with water to produce acetylene
that will fuel an internal combustion engine, at least until the
corrosive exhaust eats through the cylinder walls.)
HAARP is not quite as easy to explain as magic fuel
pellets. Part of the reason is that it is involved in a fairly
complicated area of research. Operated by the Air Force Research
Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate, it houses what is perhaps the
most impressive collection of ionosphere research instruments ever
assembled. If you are a physicist who explores
this region 25 to 500 miles above sea level, you couldn't ask for a
better-equipped lab.
So large an investment in so remote a location logically
raises the question: Why? For the same reason that Willie Sutton hung
out around banks. Because of its far northerly latitude-well into
northern lights country-Gakona is an excellent vantage point for
studying the ionosphere. We sit at the bottom of a gaseous sea of
dense, electrically neutral gases. This familiar situation changes as
we rise into the sky. At higher
altitudes, the air becomes less dense. This means the radiation from
the sun has less atmosphere to penetrate. Being more energetic, it
strips gas molecules of their electrons, turning them into the ions
for which this region is named, the ionosphere.
The presence of ions and electrons in this layer causes
electromagnetic radiation from man-made sources to be absorbed,
reflected and distorted. The absorptive and reflective characteristics
of the ionosphere are the reason why amplitude-modulated radio
broadcasts that can be heard within
only a few tens of miles from their transmitters during the day can be
heard thousands of miles away at night. The ionosphere's ability to
distort signals can produce effects that are downright spooky.
Consider the "Luxembourg effect," which sent shivers down the spines
of international radio listeners in 1933. "In this case a weak Swiss
radio station appeared to be modulated with signals from the powerful
Luxembourg station, which was transmitting at a completely different
frequency. Music from the
Luxembourg station was picked up at the frequency of the Swiss
station," explains a Department of Defense (DOD) spokesman.
The Pentagon isn't interested in explaining mysteries
from the early days of radio. "The continual growth in the number of
civilian and military satellite systems whose performance depends on
paths passing through the ionosphere, encourages not only good
characterization and monitoring of the
ionospheric state, but also an examination of what controlled local
modification of the ionosphere, using ground [high-frequency]
transmitters, could do for and to these systems," says the DOD.
HAARP Science
Creating that "controlled local modification of the
ionosphere" is what the HAARP project is all about. To do this, HAARP
team researchers are using a high-power, high-frequency phased array
radio transmitter known as the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI)
to heat pockets of the ionosphere. It will do this by transmitting a
narrow beam of high-power radio signals
in the 2.8- to 10-MHz frequency range.
The antennas needed to beam this energy are enormous.
Sitting on a gravel pad, they cover 33 acres with 180 72-ft. towers.
The towers are spaced 80 ft. apart, forming a rectangular grid (see
photo above). Each tower supports two pairs of crossed dipole
antennas. One antenna is tuned to transmit at between 2.8 and 7 MHz.
Its companion transmitter at between 7
and 10 MHz. An elevated ground screen acts as a reflector. It is
raised about 15 ft. off the ground to allow truck access to 30
transmitter shelters. According to DOD documents, each contains six
pairs of 10-kilowatt transmitters. Operating together, they deliver
3600 kilowatts to the antenna network.
The signal transmitted from the network of antennas
travels upward and is partially absorbed. This heats a pocket of air
about 30 miles in diameter and a few hundred yards thick directly over
the facility. The remainder of the signal is either reflected back to
Earth or continues to travel through the ionosphere and then into
space, diverging like the beam of a
flashlight. By the time it reaches the ionosphere, signal strength is
hundreds of times less than the variations in intensity of the sun's
natural ultraviolet energy.
After HAARP researchers zap the sky, they look at it.
The chief tool for determining the effect of this energy release is an
ultrahigh-frequency incoherent scatter radar, which measures electron
densities, electron and ion temperatures, and Doppler velocities in
the natural ionosphere and in IRI stimulated regions. Radios, magnetic
field measurement devices,
light detection and ranging instruments, and optical and infrared
spectrometers and cameras round out the instrument package. The
researchers are not the only ones who can tune into HAARP. During a
recent test in which a Morse code message was transmitted at 6.990
MHz, reception was reported by short-wave listeners as far away as
Australia and Japan.
Beyond learning about the effects of solar activity on
radio broadcasts, HAARP may also give us new insights into the Earth.
By coupling its receivers with high-speed computers, it may be
possible to create what is essentially a CAT scan of the planet. Among
other things, this could make it possible to detect underground
nuclear explosions set off in violation of test ban agreements. With
HAARP only now coming online at full power, it
may be several years before it begins living up to its scientific
potential.
HAARP Myths
There is, however, one area where HAARP has already made
itself into the record books. Like the HAARP signal, criticism of the
project can also be heard around the world. HAARP's more responsible
critics want the project shut down because of widely acknowledged
uncertainties about the effects of
exposure to radio frequency energy to people near the transmitters.
HAARP managers claim the installation is safe. In time, this issue
will be resolved one way or the other.
The HAARP myths may not be so easily dealt with. Like
most they are partially based in fact. An electromagnetic wave
missile-killing system was once proposed for the area, but never
built. And HAARP is also the site of an unbuilt over-the-horizon radar
installation. These connections have
provided more than sufficient grist for the talk-radio/Internet
conspiracy mill. My personal favorite is a hoax fax to the Joint
Chiefs of Staff that claims the accidental shutdown of a HAARP
transmitter created a space-time rift, that allowed reptilian
creatures from another dimension to invade upstate New York. If you
buy that one, you probably believe the century's second-best
techno-legend, too-the one that claims Bill Gates always flies
coach.
http://popularmechanics.com/popmech/sci/9907STRSP.html
by Jim Wilson