A fleet of tiny satellites could one day be used to detonate plasma bombs in Earth’s upper atmosphere to improve the range of radio communications.
The US Air Force has granted contracts to three research teams to develop the technology needed to do this, with hopes that CubeSats could carry massive amounts of ionized gas to the ionosphere to create radio-reflecting plasma.
The ionosphere begins roughly 40 miles above the surface and becomes denser with charged particles at night, allowing signals to travel much farther.
Ground-based radio signals are limited by the curvature of Earth’s surface, and those travelling more than about 44 miles are typically stopped if they aren’t given a boost, according to New Scientist.
These communications can be improved by bouncing the radio signals between the ionosphere and the ground, allowing them to zigzag over greater distances.
In one of the USAF-backed projects, researchers with General Science and Drexel University in Pennsylvania are working to develop a way to vaporize metal by heating it beyond its boiling point.
This would allow it to react with atmospheric oxygen to produce radio-reflecting plasma.
Another project from a team at Enig Associates and the University of Maryland plans to heat metal by detonating a small bomb, and converting the blast into electrical energy.
And, the shapes of the plasma clouds could be fine-tuned by altering the form of the initial explosion, New Scientist explains.
In the past, researchers with the High Frequency Active Research Program in Alaska have attempted to create plasma using radiation from ground-based antennas to stimulate the ionosphere.
The new plan from the USAF aims to find a more efficient way.
Once the proposals have been reviewed, the best one will move on to the second phase of the project, where the plasma generators will be tested in vacuum chambers and exploratory space flights.
But, the work does not come without challenges.
For the plans to work, researchers must develop a plasma generator small enough to fit on a CubeSat, and they must find a way to control how the plasma disperse once it’s been released.
With these challenges considered, researchers say it’s still too early to know if the plan is feasible.
‘These are really early-stage projects, representing the boundaries of plasma research into ionosphere modification,’ John Kline, who leads the Plasma Engineering group at Research Support Instruments in Hopewell, New Jersey, told New Scientist.
‘It may be an insurmountable challenge.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3753417/The-Air-Force-reveals-radical-plan-bomb-sky-improve-radio-reception.html#ixzz4ILHMB4CV
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Tell me more about how concerned they are about the environment.
Someone’s going to ask me to pay a carbon tax and they’re going to get my foot up their arse.
If they really cared about the environment they would stop funding the mindless destruction of the forests worldwide. Have you looked at the satellite images of the Ozarks, the forests in Brazil etc lately? Mostly all gone. Look at Madagascar, it used to be a dense rain forest. Now it’s practically bald. It is sickening to watch. The Ozarks used to spread from LR halfway across Missouri. Now they are even dozing down the National forests there to make freaking freeways. No doubt part of the plan to build their bs from Mexico to Canada.
Agreed.
And the online map companies were covering it up…
I posted something on this a while ago:
//fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/shocking-aerial-footage-of-the-amazon-forest-in-peru/130534
Google maps shows the devastation now, but Bing only shows a portion if you zoom into the location
-12.755553,-70.54862
What else are they covering up/hiding??
-flek
All I can say is “geoengineeringwatch.org”
“Hey I got a great idea everybody. We’re going to go ahead and f@#k up the sky some more. Who’s with me?!”
“Yeaaaah!”
“WoooHooooo!”
“Let’s do iiiiit!”
“Oh, and here’s the best part. We’re going to do this to try to improve an already out of date technology because satellite communication just isn’t good enough these days. So, continuing to f@#k up the sky is our only option. Who’s with me?!”
“Yeaaaah!”
“Wooohooooo!”
“Let’s do iiiit!”
What an incredibly stupid plan. Just pure lunacy.
Sound just like that “Voyage to the bottom of the Sea” movie from days past.
Some scientists screwed up the atmosphere doing something wrong and it caught the sky “on fire”. And it was up to the USS Sea View to rescue the earth!
Lunacy, yes.
They who have the power care not for those who do not.
“A fleet of tiny satellites could one day be used to detonate plasma bombs in Earth’s upper atmosphere…”
What could possibly go wrong?
Starfish Prime part II?
-flek