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HAARP Amping It Up

n6kuy writes "HAARP (the High frequency Active Auroral Research Program) will be adding 132 more transmitters to bring their total number of transmitters to 180. "When the massive planar array for ionospheric research is completed in 2007, it will include a total of 180 Continental Electronics D616G 10-kW combined transmitters, which the company is upgrading specifically for HAARP," the supplier (Continental) stated. The facility is near Gakona, Alaska. The installation began in 1993 with 18 transmitters, expanded to 48 in 1998 and will grow to 180 transmitters. The final expansion will bring the HAARP array to full power, with ERP increasing from 84 dBW to about 96 dBW. 96dBW is about 4 billion Watts. There is speculation that the project is really an "effort to develop ways to jam the electronics of incoming missiles from Russia and/or China". 4 billion Watts oughtta do it."

21 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. Yes but... by Ctrl+Alt+De1337 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does it go up to 11?

  2. From TFA (and other materials on the subject) by Senes · · Score: 5, Informative

    HAARP is a United States defense project, one of the many defense measures against nuclear warfare. For more information, see this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAARP (Wikipedia.org)

    1. Re:From TFA (and other materials on the subject) by deglr6328 · · Score: 5, Informative

      HAARP is being upgraded by the DOD as a "defense measure against nuclear warfare", but not in the sense that you or the other hundred odd Art Bell quoting posters here seem to think. Specifically, it is not being used to "jam" or "shoot down" any ICBMs or some such nonsense because that is impossible and is well...what's the phrase here that I'm looking for...oh right...fucking retardedly impossible.

      So why is the Pentagon interested in upgrading HAARP to ~4 GW? Well, if you do some research on HANEs (high altitude nuclear explosions) you will find that a nuclear explosion of even modest energy (100 KTons) is sufficient, when detonated at an altitude of greater than a couple 100 Km, of flooding the Van Allen belts with high energy electrons. (the native electron population of the radiation belts is "heated" via inverse bremsstrahlung from the hard X-rays emitted by the nuclear detonation) It is even capapble of creating NEW radiation belts at lower altitudes than normally found and it is thus estimated, extrapolating from experiments such as starfish prime in the 50's, that virtually ALL sattelites in LEO would be destroyed within days by ESD and radiation damage if an event like this were to occur.
      HOWEVER! HAARP is capable of irradiating the ionosphere with VLF EM radiation of quite high intensity and thus can alter the so called "auroral electrojet", creating a ginormous "virtual VLF antenna" in it by altering its temperature (and thus its conductance). The HAARP is thereby capable of depopulating the radiation belts of high energy charged particles in a fraction of the time it would ordinarilly take for them to calm down on thier own and thus potentially saving the many sattelites in LEO. Sound crazy? Well, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and THAT is why the Pentagon is interested in this thing, not for some kooky mind control/weather control/ray gun type kookery.

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
  3. Jamming missiles, don't be silly... by mkraft · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's obviously a time travel experiment.
    4 Gigawatts is enough to power 3 DeLoreans with power to spare.

  4. Maby.. by NIK282000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    They can use it to boost the new nintendo wifi coverage.

    --
    Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
  5. That's WAAAAY too much... by no_such_user · · Score: 3, Funny

    You only need 1.21 Gigawatts.

  6. idle spec by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    FTFSpeculation: "it seems to me like it's some efffort to develop ways to jam the electronics of incoming missiles from Russia and/or China (I don't think it's an accident HAARP's initial funding came from Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative)"

    It could also be that the Star Wars Initiative was based on satellites being able to communicate, and communication in the ionosphere (with endemic electrical currents) was thought to be possibly very tricky, especially in latitudes where the northern lights are a visible manifestation of such.

    /tinfoil (not aluminum foil) hat half-off

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  7. This only works at night? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Did I read this correctly: that HAARP only works at night?

    "Ionospheric heating cannot be performed while the sun illuminates the ionosphere for two reasons:

            * Solar UV creates the ionospheric D-region, which absorbs the radio waves used for ionospheric heating.
            * The solar flux overwhelms any effect of ionospheric heating. "

    1. Re:This only works at night? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, to be more specific, the D-region is formed by solar Lyman alpha photoionization of nitric oxide (NO), with a smaller and more variable contribution from soft X-rays ionizing N2 and O2.

      HF radio waves are absorbed mostly in the D-region, and at times can be completely blacked out by elevated electron densities caused by various ionospheric disturbances, including solar X-ray flares and "Polar Cap Absorption" events caused by solar proton events.

      The solar (extreme ultraviolet, shortwards of Lyman alpha) flux photoionizes the neutral atmosphere (mostly N2 and O2) creating ions by ejecting photoelectrons from the neutral molecules. These photoelectrons have energies typically up to about 100 eV (electron Volts). The "hot" photoelectrons collide with the cold ambient ionospheric electrons through the Coulomb interaction thereby heating the ionospheric electrons.

      The radar heats ionospheric electrons to only a fraction of an eV. However, there are enough electrons in the tail of the heated Maxwellian distribution to excite the atomic oxygen auroral "red line" emission at 6300 Angstroms (630 nm), which has an excitation threshold of 1.96 eV. This red glow produced by radar heating is visible from the ground (with instruments).

      I'm one of the "experts" quoted on the HAARP site, although I have absolutely nothing to do with it. However, I find the conspiracy theories regarding HAARP quite amusing. Why? because I can calculate exactly what the radar is doing - that's how I make my living.

  8. I have no idea... by FuturePastNow · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...how much RF energy it takes to damage a missile. But, by the time it flies over Alaska, the missile would be a ballistic warhead that has to do nothing more than detonate at a predetermined altitude. I imagine it could be made pretty simple, and therefore hard to kill.

    But, four billion watts is a lot of power. The HAARP power page says that for every four watts of power transmitted, ten must be generated (40% efficiency). That's ten gigawatts, and the six diesel generators mentioned on the site produce only fifteen megawatts. Where does the extra power come from? Capacitors? If so, it would only be able to produce a single large pulse. That would be pretty useless against missiles (which wouldn't all come at once).

    --
    Give a man fire, and you warm him for the night. Set a man on fire, and you warm him for the rest of his life.
    1. Re:I have no idea... by mpoulton · · Score: 4, Informative

      But, four billion watts is a lot of power. The HAARP power page says that for every four watts of power transmitted, ten must be generated (40% efficiency). That's ten gigawatts, and the six diesel generators mentioned on the site produce only fifteen megawatts. Where does the extra power come from?

      It's not actually 4GW. It's only 3.6MW peak envelope power. 4GW is the max ERP, or effective radiated power, under optimal conditions. ERP accounts for antenna gain. In other words, the field strength is the same as that from a 4GW transmitter with an isotropically radiating antenna.
      See the HAARP site's technical info on phases of completion at: http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/phases.html

      --
      I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
  9. Off-topic Megawatt story by crazyphilman · · Score: 4, Funny

    When I was a wee lad, I had a very interesting, somewhat cranky physics professor. I had bought a several-milliwatt helium-neon laser tube via catalog. Due to a typo, they had claimed its power as something like 4MW, which I interpereted to mean it literally was four megawatts. I was ecstatic and couldn't wait to share my great good fortune with my prof.

    I showed the prof the ad, and told him that when the laser came in, maybe we could try it out.

    He repeated "4 megawatts? What are you going to do, shoot planes down?"

    I said, "Nah, I'm a pacifist. Maybe we can zap one'a them light poles around the quad. Besides, it says so right there. 4MW."

    He said "Ah, so it does. And it takes a 9-volt battery?"

    I said, "It's got a transformer."

    He clenched his lips together extremely tightly, and screwed his eyes shut. He looked briefly like he was rumbling. Then, he gained control over it and said, "Well, you'll have to bring that baby in, kid. I'll be right back..."

    Years later, looking back, I'm pleased I was able to give a man his age the belly laugh I'm sure he went out in the hall to enjoy. It's the little pleasures that make life worthwhile...

    --
    Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
  10. More conspiracy theories by iamlucky13 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You've gotta love the unfounded conspiracy theories surrounding HAARP. Jamming the Chinese is the only plausible alternate explanation I've heard yet. If people are so convinced that something evil is going on up there, how about asking some of the grad students at University of Alaska? Everybody knows grad students will sing for a mere six pack or an offer to show their resume to your boss.

    The array has so far produced localized auroras (go Google it yourself, I'm not your mother), which is one of the effects it was predicted to be able to achieve in addition to providing a theoretical way to improve radio reception, but I've heard some great crackpot theories. Most come from the tin-foil hat people who think it's a mind control device, but there's some lame stuff like destroying the ozone layer over only blue or only red states so Democrats/Republicans will all die of skin cancer or find oil sources for the big companies with government funding. The best, however, is the suggestion that it controls earthquakes. 'HAARP' + 'earthquake' is an entertaining google search. Iran, Sumatra, you name it. It was a secret government attack. Oh yeah, don't forget Hurricane Katrina. Obviously a creation of HAARP.

    1. Re:More conspiracy theories by killjoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I have set up firefox with the BBC news liveboorkmarks. Yesterday I saw a headline that said the US army finally admitted using phosphorus bombs against human targets (but of course denied killing civillians and denied the fact that these bombs which deployed chemicals were chemical weapons). Just earlier that day US officials in London had denied using these weapons against humans. They were continuing the same lie they had been telling since the attack on fallujia.

      I then went over to CNN to see what they had to say and it was nowhere on their web site. It also wasn't on the web sites of ABCnews and needless to say it wasn't on the web site of FoxNews either (Fox news web site is hilarious! they should just replace their banner with Republicans RULEZ!).

      Anyway...

      Can you really blame people when they don't take the word of the US govt? Can you really blame the people when they don't trust the so-called free press to give them unbiased news?

      How can you really be sure exactly what HAARP is being used for?

      --
      evil is as evil does
    2. Re:More conspiracy theories by killjoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "If you can call white phosphorus a chemical weapon, than so are guns and bombs."

      Mmmm. It's a chemical, it's deployed with bombs, it melts the skin off of it's victims. Nope, it could not possibly be a chemical weapon, no way, no sir.

      "The reason there was no mention of it is that it was covered several news cycles ago. It turns out it's crap. Who knew?"

      Appatenly not you. Because that day it was on the front page of asia.cnn.com. cnn.com didn't have it on their front page while asia.cnn.com did.

      "Because we're not goddamned idiots."

      Maybe not, but I can sure make a case for the fact that you are ignorant if you don't read the news sites from other nations.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    3. Re:More conspiracy theories by killjoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      " Phosphorus bombs are considered incendiary/marking devices, not chemical weapons."

      This is a common republitard tactic. When the facts are clearly against you simply redefine the subject. Clorox is a household chemical so is ammonia, mix them together and you get a dangerous chemical, put it in a shell and lob it at people and it becomes a chemical weapon. In this case the US military lied over and over again saying that they only used it for smoke and marking. Yesterday they admitted that they were lying and that they used it against human targets. That's what makes it a chemical weapon the fact that they used it against human beings.

      If it was not they would not have lied to you for months and months, they would not have waited will there was film to admit it.

      "Yet another bullshit issue championed by the Marxists on behalf of their Islamic allies."

      Sorry to put a wet blanket over your orgasm dude. Just ignore me and go back to stoking yourself while you look at pictures of dead muslims.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    4. Re:More conspiracy theories by Derling+Whirvish · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Yesterday I saw a headline that said the US army finally admitted using phosphorus bombs

      The Army has never denied that.

      Just earlier that day US officials in London had denied using these weapons

      There was only one official making that claim. He is Ambassador Tuttle -- a crony of Bush. His last job was an auto dealer for goodness' sake. He is not qualified to comment on Army weaponry, much less be the ambassador. He's clueless.

      Here's his bio from the State Dept web site:

      Robert Holmes Tuttle was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's on July 14, 2005. A businessman with extensive experience in the private sector, Mr. Tuttle is Co-Managing Partner of Tuttle-Click Automotive Group, one of the largest automobile dealer organizations in the United States.
      You can't claim a vast government conspiracy to cover-up something simply because one idiot in London spouted off before checking the facts. Well, you can actually, but you will look like an idiot if you do.
  11. Re:Ah conspiracy... by ian_mackereth · · Score: 4, Funny
    Well, it can't be aimed at missiles from anywhere in the ex-Soviet bloc.

    The most famous haarp practitioner I know of was definitely a Marx-ist...

  12. Re:Wow big suprise US spending billions on defense by killjoe · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Besides, we all know that there was no war before the US started pissing everyone off. "

    IN the last few decades the US has been involved in more wars then any other country on the planet. The problem we have with George is that he is waging war for profit, fun, and because "god told him to" (his words not mine).

    --
    evil is as evil does
  13. What is the real Power? by Dr.+Null · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just to make sure that everybody is up to speed on that stated power, Let me Clarify something about antenna radiation. What was quoted was 4 billion watts ERP. The term ERP means Effective Radiated Power compared to that of a simple dipole antenna. This is a sort of measure of power density, not absolute power. Power stated as ERP is a measure of the power radiated and how narrow the radiation beam is. High ERP power is very much like looking at a narrow laser beam from a great distance. The beam looks bright, so if you think that the light is coming from a source that is shining in all directions, then it is as if the light source is shining with megawatts of power. Although the beam is bright, it is very narrow in extent, thus the real power radiated is small. For antennas, the beam width is proportional to a measure called antenna Gain. Large arrays of antennas like the HAARP antenna farm have VERY high gains, thus very directional radiation beams. IT is more likely that HAARP antenna array has a collective gain near 1000, thus the real power is more like 4 megawatts, not gigawatts (something that can be supplied by on base generators).

    Megawatts of RF power is big, but not big enough to knock down ICBMs. The Idea with HAARP is to use the RF power to heat the Ionosphere in the northern latitudes where there are enormous currents induced by the Aurora. The power sloshing around in the upper Ionosphere is of the order of Terawatts. They hope to modulate these rivers of currents by locally heating small spots in the ionosphere plasma, thus radiating gigawatts of power at ultra low frequencies ( 1 to 100 Hz)... a very cool Mad scientist Idea... Very evil..

    DR. Null

  14. HF RADARs [Re:This only works at night?] by Doug+Jensen · · Score: 3, Informative

    As someone whose professional application domain includes RADAR, I verify that HF RADAR is a currently deployed and advancing technology. Over the horizon RADAR's, which are on the HF band, such as the Upgraded Early Warning RADAR, are alive and well. Do a search for "UEWR" at globalsecurity.org.

    --
    Doug Jensen