What is HAARP ?

The acronym HAARP stands for High Frequency Auroral Research Program. It’s an American research project dedicated to analysing the ionosphere. HAARP is funded by the American armed forces, and has been the target of conspiracy theorists since the 1990s. They believe the program is responsible for natural disasters and mind-controlling radio waves.

The ionmmm osphere is a layer of the Earth’s upper atmosphere, from around 37 miles to 620 miles in altitude. Its characteristics are complex and varied due to solar activity. It is of interest to scientists studying the atmosphere, as well as armed forces, as it plays an important role in radio wave propagation. 

So the US army decided to finance the HAARP research program, in order to study the ionosphere, and more specifically the geomagnetic storms which occur inside it. Work on the facility began in 1993 in Alaska. The state was chosen because auroras occur frequently, and because it’s far away from wave interference caused by human activity. Such as electronics and lights for example.

HAARP uses a high-frequency radio transmitter to temporarily excite precise parts of the atmosphere. The transmitter has 180 antennas and a total of 3.6 MW in transmitter power. In total, up to 300 million dollars were invested in the program. But the army decided to abandon it in 2014, as it was becoming too expensive to make equipment meet anti-pollution standards. The University of Alaska then took over the program, as well as all the conspiracy theories that come with it.

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