Project HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is a US Air Force, Navy and University of Alaska funded investigation to "understand, simulate and control ionospheric processes that might alter the performance of communication and surveillance systems" started in 1993 for a proposed twenty year series of experiments. It has aroused some controversy among conspiracy theorists for its alleged potential as a weapon or mind control device, and among environmentalists for its effect on the atmosphere.1 Characteristics
The investigation site is near Gakona, Alaska (lat. 62.39° N, long 145.15° W). An extensive array of 180 aerial towers is in the process of being erected at a initial cost of $30m to make the phased array transmitter, named the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI). HAARP is the third US ionospheric research site, the others are near the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico and near Fairbanks, Alaska. A European research station is based near Tromsų in Norway. The principal European and US HAARP sites are located in high latitudes as the auroral region provides a very wide variety of ionospheric conditions to study, as well as quiet locations away from the electromagnetic interference produced by big cities.
2 Stated Objectives
The HAARP project aims to direct a 3.6 MW pulse in the 2.8-10 MHz bandwidth into the ionosphere and then to examine the effects of the pulse and the recovery period using associated radar equipment. According to the HAARP team, this will advance the study of basic natural processes that occur in the ionosphere under the natural but much stronger influence of solar interaction, as well as how the natural ionosphere affects radio signals. This will enable scientists to develop techniques to mitigate these effects in order to improve the reliability and/or performance of communication and navigation systems, which would have a wide range of applications in both the civilian and military sectors.
The project is funded by the Office of Naval Research and jointly managed by the ONR and Air Force Research Laboratory, with the principal involvement of the University of Alaska. Fourteen other universities and educational institutions have been involved in the development of the project and its instruments, namely the University of Alaska, Penn State University (ARL), Boston College, UCLA, Clemson University, Dartmouth CollegeFor other places called Dartmouth, see Dartmouth . Dartmouth College is a four-year private liberal arts college in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA and a member of the Ivy League. Dartmouth was founded in 1769 by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock and Samson Occum und, Cornell UniversityCornell University located in Ithaca, New York, USA, is a major research university and a member of the Ivy League. Cornell was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell, a businessman and a pioneer in the telegraph industry, and Andrew Dickson White, a respected s, Johns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University is a prestigious private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland. Hopkins holds many "firsts" in American education: it was the first university in the United States to put an emphasis on research, founde, University of MarylandThe University of Maryland is used to refer to any of: University of Maryland, Baltimore University of Maryland, College Park University System of Maryland In recent years, University of Maryland has become synonymous with University of Maryland, College, University of MassachusettsThe University of Massachusetts (commonly referred to as UMass is the five-campus public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The five campuses are UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Lowell, and the UMass Medical School, MIT, Polytechnic University, Stanford UniversityFor other meanings of Stanford see Stanford (disambiguation). Stanford University is a privately funded university in Stanford, California. It is located approximately 35 miles southeast of San Francisco, in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County ad, and the University of Tulsa. The project's specifications were developed by the universities, which are continuing to play a major role in the design of future research efforts. There is both military and commercial interest in its outcome, as many communications and navigation systems depend on signals being reflected from the ionosphere or passing through the ionosphere to satellites.
The HAARP project offers annual open days to permit the general public to visit the facility, and makes a public virtue of openness; according to the team, "there are no classified documents pertaining to HAARP."
