HAARP Research Makes the News

The February 2005 edition of Nature has a research report from Todd Pedersen and Elizabeth Gerken on a 3/10/2004 experiment with HAARP. The report - Creation of visible artificial optical emissions in the aurora by high-power radio waves (try this link if that one doesn't work) - reports that they were able to create visible light forms in the "ionospheric E level" (100 km above the earth). Implied is that much former research focused on the F level several hundred kilometers above the earth.

According to DARPA, the HAARP program plans include "Conduct(ing) advanced ionosphere and radio science research and analysis of applications including space-based asset protection and phenomena related to its implementation. Therefore, it is no surprise that they are testing HAARP, though reporting about it at Nature.com is a bit of a surprise.

As noted in the quote above, the goal of HAARP is to protect "space-based" assets. I doubt that pretty lights in the sky are going to do that, and the DARPA article reflects the aim of weapons capability:

A recent study completed by an Air Force/Navy Panel also points to additional high-value functions that can potentially be accomplished with the a 3.6 MW capability, in particular, the exploration and refinement of scientific principles that could lead to the development and deployment of a system to provide protection for space-based assets from emergent asymmetric threats.

Since the particle changes reported in the Nature.com report are similar to ion disruption by solar flares, then being able to turn the particles "on and off" as stated in the report presents interesting possibilities of jamming or disrupting all kinds of communication. Such a technology would seem to have defensive possibilities, but offense is rarely far behind.

According to the research report they were using the 960-kW transmitter array at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility near Gakona, Alaska (62.4° N, 145.15° W). The HAARP transmitter was run in a 15-s cycle alternating between 7.5 s of full power and 7.5 s off. " So we know that there are various wattage transmitters available, and we know that the 960Kw transmitter is not the "big gun" mentioned by DARPA that comes in at 3.6Mw.

The question just begs to be asked about what the potential effects of charging and discharging various levels of the ionosphere might have. What happens if you change the reflectivity (or absorptive capacity) of various layers of the atmosphere? Might it affect solar radiation reaching the Earth? Might it have the capability of intensifying other types of radiation (say laser or microwave)? I haven't a clue, but it does make me nervous that they are playing with the protective envelope of the planet.

p.s. I wrote a piece on HAARP in December 2003 with more explanation about HAARP and related links if you want to dig a bit deeper.