HAARP - The Cold, Hard Facts
by Biffnix
Okay, I've heard enough nonsense about HAARP. My dad-in-law is a former
physicist with the Navy, and pointed me in the right direction. For the
official Straight Dope on HAARP, point your conspiratorial web browser at
http://server5550.itd.nrl.navy.mil/projects/haarp/haarpindex.html.
For the Straight Dope on just what HAARP is supposed to do, and why,
read on...
Is U.S. going to destroy the ionosphere?
08-Mar-96
Dear Cecil:
Recently I heard about the U.S. Air Force's new "doomsday machine" called
HAARP, for High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program. From what I
understand, the Air Force plans to experiment with blowing a hole in our
ionosphere by directing intense high-frequency radio waves at it from
somewhere in Alaska.
The Air Force "experts" assured the interviewer that such a thing would
have no negative impact on our global environment or weather systems. There
was also some discussion of using this technology as a form of mind control
by determining the proper frequency radio waves and directing them at whole
armies to render them insensible.
My understanding is that the ionosphere protects us from lethal cosmic
forces, allowing the earth to support life as we know it. What evil people
are toying with this delicate balance? Where can information about this
project be found, and who can concerned citizens appeal to to stop this
unnecessary experiment? --Donna Sexton, Northbridge, Massachusetts
Dear Donna:
Come on, where's our sense of adventure? When HAARP is fully deployed in
2002 and they flip the switch, either nothing much will happen or, to hear
opponents tell it, it'll be the end of the world. Cecil has had a long talk
with the folks at HAARP and concludes that the latter isn't very likely,
but thinking about it will definitely liven up a dull day at the office.
What freaks some people out about HAARP is the concept: scientists are
building an array of 360 high-power radio antennas in Alaska to generate a
beam of radio energy for purposes of heating up a patch of the ionosphere,
the outer part of the earth's atmosphere. This may come in handy for such
purposes as:
- Submarine communication. Send a pulsed radio beam into the "auroral
electrojet," the high-altitude stream of charged particles found in
polar regions, and the electrojet will rebroadcast pulses of extremely
low frequency (ELF) radio energy. In effect what you've done is turn
part of the electrojet into a giant ELF antenna extending for hundreds
of miles. ELF energy will penetrate seawater and thus can be used to
communicate with submerged submarines.
- Underground surveillance. ELF energy will also penetrate some distance
into the earth. By means of "earth-penetrating tomography"--radiating
ELF energy at the earth and seeing what kind of echo bounces back--you
can map out stuff hidden underground, e.g., mineral deposits or, more
urgently for the Pentagon, secret underground nuclear-bomb factories
in countries like North Korea.
- Directed over-the-horizon radio communication. You could create one or
more "virtual refractors" in the upper atmosphere to direct a radio
beam to a location in a distant part of the globe.
Doesn't sound so bad, but HAARP opponents say the Air Force isn't telling
the whole story. Their main beefs: first, the project will pour more energy
into the sky than ever previously attempted, with who knows what awful
consequences. Proponents say the energy isn't that much greater than what
existing ionospheric research facilities pump out and in any case is
trivial compared to natural forces.
The second complaint is that the military wants to use HAARP to develop
scary futuristic weapons. Among them: (1) a "global shield" that would zap
the guidance systems of incoming ballistic missiles; (2) mind-control beams
to incapacitate enemy troops, and (3) weather-control machines.
Sounds wild, but at least some of these schemes were embodied in technology
patented in the 1980s by physicist Bernard Eastlund, who was a founder of a
predecessor company of the current HAARP contractor. HAARP spokesmen say
there's no connection between Eastlund's plans and theirs, and that they're
not cooking up death rays or anything of the sort.
But check out both sides of the story and decide for yourself. For the full
paranoid treatment see Angels Don't Play This HAARP: Advances in Tesla
Technology by Nick Begich, Earthpulse Press, PO Box 201393, Anchorage,
Alaska 99520, 907-249-9111. For the Air Force's version (complete with
photos), check out the HAARP Website at
http://server5550.itd.nrl.navy.mil/projects/haarp/haarpindex.html.
--CECIL ADAMS
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