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.""

I'm sure they've thought of it

[andrewman327]

Why would the USAF jam its own military signals? A friend who flies Blackhawks says the worst part of training was then they shut down the GPS receiver and made him navigate on the fly, so to speak. It's not like we have any military presence aroundin the Pacific or anything.

Not surprisingly, this plan does not appear to be in any stage of implementation. From TFA: "The US Air Force and the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have proposed using very low frequency radio waves to flush particles from radiation 'belts' above Earth and dump them into the upper atmosphere over either one or several days."

My guess is that this is an emergency countermeasure in the event of a nuclear strike. Also from TFA: "If the intense radiation belts resulted from a rogue state detonating a nuclear-tipped missile in the upper atmosphere, using such remediation technology would probably be acceptable to the international community."

I hate to inform everyone, but the sky is not falling. At least not yet (always keep your towels handy in case it does).

Re:I'm sure they've thought of it

[carn1fex]

Exactly, I hate it when these sort of things hit the news. The government has all sorts of wacky proposals coming into it all the time. I review technology proposals for a particular agency and you wouldn't believe the wacky stuff that comes down the pipe. But they're just that, proposals and most never see the light of day. When the media says "the government is considering a proposal" it means theres simply a stack of paper on my desk that I've covered in red ink and usually thrown in the shredder and I and one other person are the only people who will ever have read the thing. Anyone and everyone can submit a proposal to a government grant system, and believe me they do. There should be better secrecy regarding proposal submission so as not to impede the free flow of ideas resulting from paranoia that your idea will land on the cover of the Post and make you look like a shmuck, much like this case.

Nothing to see here

[Nurf]

The article summary seems a little hysterical to me. It's "US plans" this and "US plans" that, combined with dark words about tampering with our environment. I am not American myself and am rather used to seeing this bias in reporting, especially in New Zealand press.

Solar sun spot activity often disrupts HF radio communications, and amazingly the world does not end. I have been involved in an HF station that provides missionaries and farmers in central Africa with a way to communicate, and you generally live with the fact that no communications are possible much of the time. HF is just plain unreliable. If GPS and HF communications were disrupted with some advance warning, it would be inconvenient for sure, but that's about it. In exchange the world would get a much safer radiation environment for satellites and human-occupied space stations.

So, we have a cost and a benefit. The cost isn't anything that people have had to do without before.

Political manoeuvering and a mildly hysterical press aside, there isn't much of a story here.

hmm.. I have a question..

[wyt3dr4g0n]

If the Earth uses its own magnetic field to repel these dangerous particles.. why not generate magnetic fields in some way to protect the satellites in the same manner?

How could this affect GPS?

[BitterOak]

If I understand the summary correctly, the procedure would cause the ionosphere to stop reflecting signals, which would indeed disrupt radio communications which use the ionosphere as a "mirror". But the GPS system relies on signals being sent directly from the satellites to the receivers and doesn't use the mirror effect. Indeed, "bounced" signals would destroy the accuracy of the system as the signal path length would be way, way off.

Re:Maybe somebody knows what caused this ...

[decsnake]

very likely.

read about it here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime [wikipedia.org]

Re:Maybe somebody knows what caused this ...

[forgetful]

Life Magazine had a photo of the aurora from the nuke blast as well as a photo of folks gathered in Hawaii to watch the fireworks. The expression on their faces is unforgettable after all these years. What is the famous quote from the first Trinity shot?