Wild experiments try to bounce radio signals from the moon and Jupiter

An antenna field in Alaska that is no shortage of conspiracy theories spawned conducted a series of experiments, including sending radio signals to the moon and Jupiter and waiting for ping back.

The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) kicked off a 10-day scientific campaign that ran through October 28. On the agenda were 13 experiments that push the boundaries of what the facility can do. “October’s research campaign is our largest and most diverse yet, bringing together researchers and citizen scientists from around the world,” said Jessica Matthews, HAARP program manager, in a statement. release.

HAARP consists of 180 high-frequency antennas, each 72 feet high, stretched over 33 acres near Gakona, Alaska. The research facility emits radio beams to the Earth’s ionosphere, the ionized part of the atmosphere that convenient about 50 to 400 miles (80 to 600 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface. The ionosphere is filled with electrically charged particles, a result of being blown up by solar energy. HAARP sends radio signals to the ionosphere and waits for them to return, in an effort to measure the Sun’s perturbations, among other things.

in a recent experiment, known as the “Moon Bounce,” a group of researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Owens Valley Radio Observatory, and the University of New Mexico sent a signal from HAARP antennas in Alaska to the moon, then waited to receive a reflected signal back to the observatory sites in California and New Mexico.

The aim of the experiment is to study how the three facilities in Alaska, California and New Mexico could work together for future observations of near-Earth asteroids. The facility may be able to send a signal to an asteroid flying past Earth and receive back a signal indicating the composition of the space rock.

Another experiment sent a radio beam to Jupiter, which is currently about 600 million kilometers from Earth. The hope is that the beam would reflect off Jupiter’s ionosphere and then be received at the New Mexico site.

The Jupiter experiment is being conducted by the John Hopkins Applied Physics Labaratory and aims to provide a new way to observe the ionospheres of other planets. Given how far Jupiter is from Earth, this experiment is a true test of HAARP’s signal transfer capabilities.

Another experiment is more on the artsy side. “Ghosts in the Air Glow” beamed video, images, spoken word and sound art into the ionosphere and waited for the signal to bounce back to test the transitional boundary of the atmosphere.

HAARP was originally a project of the U.S Air Force to study solar flares, which can disrupt The communication of the earth and the electricity grid. But in 2015, the Air Force decided it was no longer interested in maintaining HAARPand ownership transferred to the University of Alaska. While under the purview of the Air Force, HAARP inspired some wild conspiracy theories, including that the antennas were used to change the weather, create deadly hurricanes, and even control ghosts.