U.S. Satellite Plan Could Knock Out GPS and Radio

Audent writes "Otago University researchers are concerned by U.S. plans to protect satellites from solar storms... "The approach, which is being considered by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, involves using very low frequency radio waves to flush particles from belts and dump them into the upper atmosphere over either one or several days". The plan could disrupt GPS signals and high frequency radio over the Pacific for up to a week. "The disruptions result from a deluge of dumped charged particles temporarily changing the ionosphere from a "mirror" that bounces high frequency radio waves around the planet to a "sponge" that soaks them up.""

The actual research

[FleaPlus]

I fished around a little and found a link for the actual research paper the article is based on. The paper itself requires a subscription, but here's the abstract:

The atmospheric implications of radiation belt remediation [copernicus.org]

C. J. Rodger, M. A. Clilverd, Th. Ulich, P. T. Verronen, E. Turunen, N. R. Thomson

Abstract: High altitude nuclear explosions (HANEs) and geomagnetic storms can produce large scale injections of relativistic particles into the inner radiation belts. It is recognised that these large increases in >1 MeV trapped electron fluxes can shorten the operational lifetime of low Earth orbiting satellites, threatening a large, valuable population. Therefore, studies are being undertaken to bring about practical human control of the radiation belts, termed "Radiation Belt Remediation" (RBR). Here we consider the upper atmospheric consequences of an RBR system operating over either 1 or 10 days. The RBR-forced neutral chemistry changes, leading to NOx enhancements and Ox depletions, are significant during the timescale of the precipitation but are generally not long-lasting. The magnitudes, time-scales, and altitudes of these changes are no more significant than those observed during large solar proton events. In contrast, RBR-operation will lead to unusually intense HF blackouts for about the first half of the operation time, producing large scale disruptions to radio communication and navigation systems. While the neutral atmosphere changes are not particularly important, HF disruptions could be an important area for policy makers to consider, particularly for the remediation of natural injections.

I'd never heard of the "radiation belt remediation" procedure that was mentioned in the article, so I dug around some more and located the following paper:

Remediation of radiation belts using electrostatic tether structures [tethers.com]

Abstract: Scattering of energetic charged particles by high-voltage electrostatic tether structures may present a technically and economically viable method of rapidly remediating radiation belts caused by both natural processes and manmade events. In this paper, we describe a concept for a system of electrostatic tether structures designed to rapidly remediate an artificial radiation belt caused by a high altitude nuclear detonation. We then investigate the scaling of the system size and power requirements with the tether voltage and other design parameters. These scaling analyses indicate that a conventional single-line tether design cannot provide sufficient performance to achieve a system design that is viable. We then propose innovative multiwire tether geometry and show that this tether design can significantly improve the overall performance of the electrostatic system, enabling the requirements for total power and number of satellite systems to be reduced to levels that are both technically and economically viable.


The slashdot submission and popular press-article (but not the research paper) engages in some fear-mongering about how the US is supposedly planning on deploying RBR, but I haven't found any sources which confirm this to actually be the case. It should probably be mentioned that DARPA funds almost everything under the sun, usually without much expectation of it actually being of practical use. I mean, this is the same DARPA that funded psychic telepathy research and mechanical elephants for the jungles of Vietnam. [hnn.us]

Regardless of whether or not it's practical, radiation belt remediation still seems like interesting research. It'd be a shame if fear-mongering about this being a "US plot to disrupt worldwide communications" or something resulted in funding for this research being cut off.

Not comfortable

[Midnight Thunder]

The theory is sound, but if the practice screws up then they could end up dumping excess radiation on to the Earth's surface. Sure the Satellites would be protected, but given the resulting state of people on the planet, is it really worth it. Surely building in better protection into the satellites in the first place would be the better solution.

Re:Not comfortable

[RexRhino]

1. It would not dump any excess radiation to the Earths surface. It would effect the ionosphere and possibly (speculative since the technology only exists in people's imagination), effecting how radio waves bounce off the ionosphere.

2. Even if it did, this is primarily proposed as a defense against nuclear detonations in the upper atmosphere... I think detonating nuclear weapons in the upper atmosphere is going to cause so many problems with radio that this plan would be the least of people's worries.

You throw the words "radiation" into an article, and throw in "U.S. Military" for good measure, and people start to lose basic common sense. You would have people demanding a global ban on lightbulbs if you told them that the "U.S. Military is widely deploying small radiation emmiting devices to facilitate night time observation."

Re:But what if

[ATMD]

It's from Futurama, isn't it?