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Chapter Fifteen
THE TWELVE PATENTS OF APTI TECHNICALLY TESLA
APTI held twelve patents, all of which were linked to Star Wars
defense systems. APTI was the main contractor on the first phase of
the HAARP project.
These patents represented technologies which were
inconsistent with the normal activities of ARCO, the parent
organization of APTI. In ARCO's 1994 annual report, no mention of
APTI OT the HAARP contract was found.
Apparently ARCO was not in the
kind of technology and military construction contracting business
suggested by this technology. APTI was an anomalous subsidiary of
ARCO, with ARCO having no real expertise, outside of APTI, for
developing these kinds of patents.
This writer believes that ARCO did not want to be involved in the
defense industry development of these patents. After all, they were
just looking for a market for natural gas. Gas on the North Slope of
Alaska was the issue for ARCO. The cost of a pipeline and related
facilities needed to move the gas to southern Alaska was estimated
at more than $20 billion, pricing the gas out of the market. So APTI
acquired the twelve patents and a potentially lucrative market.
The patents originally held by APTI are described below.
United States Patent Number 4,686,605 Issued: August 11, 1987
Invented by: Bernard J. Eastlund Titled; "Method and Apparatus for
Altering a Region in the Earth's Atmosphere, Ionosphere, and/or
Magnetosphere".
This patent was filed on January 10, 1985. On April 11, 1986, the
Office of Naval Research Code 308 in Arlington, Virginia sealed the
patent application under a "Secrecy Order" which forbade further
work or any disclosure of information on the patent. This, no doubt,
concerned Dr. Eastlund and APTI. 155 The order was a standard form
letter stating provisions of the National Security Act that allowed
the Defense Department to seal the information. The penalties for
disobeying it were spelled out in the document, and included fines
and long prison terms.
155 United States Patent Office Master File 06/690,333 (SC/Serial
Number) on Patent No. 4,686,605.
Patent examiner Salvatore Cangialosi of the U.S. Patent Office
rejected the application on November 28, 1986. According to the
Summary of Action,
"Claims 1-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101
because the invention as disclosed is inoperative and therefore
lacks utility."
On December 9, 1986 Dr. Eastlund and his attorney met with the
patent examiner to discuss the rationale behind the decision to
reject it. On January 14, 1987, an amendment was filed which reduced
the number of claims and provided documentation to prove that the
invention would work.
The file notes
say it was reviewed again in early February 1987. In late March, the
Secrecy Order was lifted.
The Eastlund patent was different than technologies of ionospheric
heaters already operating around the world. The first significant
difference was the way the RF radiation was concentrated. The energy
was focused to a point in the ionosphere, with a wide base of the
energy at the transmitter site.
The other antenna designs operating
around the world radiated RF in the opposite way, so that it was
like a cone with the point at the transmitter and the wide end in
the ionosphere. In other words, the Eastlund invention concentrated
the power in the ionosphere, while the others spread it out over an
increasingly larger area as the energy moved further away from the
transmitter.
This difference allowed a significant concentration of
energy into the ionosphere. The Eastlund device would allow a
concentration of one watt per cubic centimeter, compared to others
only able to deliver about one millionth of one watt.
This was a huge difference, which was,
"sufficient to cause movement
of a plasma region along said diverging magnetic field lines to an
altitude higher than the altitude at which said excitation was
initiated." 156
156 Amendment January 1987 to the original Patent Application of Bernard Eastlund for the
subsequently issued Patent Number 4,686,605.
What this means is that it would lift the ionosphere
and alter its character in the ways necessary to create the effects
described in the patent.
Eastlund further explained the effect of cyclotron resonance in
building the power density over a large area of the ionosphere. The
military would use this knowledge later in describing the "painting"
of the ionosphere, which is why they wanted a system that would scan
a fairly large area. They could, with this new technology, focus the
energy and cover a large area for their effects.
Three publications cited in the patent formed the basis for the
research into the technology. It was these references which sparked
the original investigation which led to this book. The articles
related to the work of Nikola Tesla in the early 1900's. The
articles from the New York Times, December 8, 1915 and September 22,
1940, were quoted earlier in this book.
What would this technology be worth to ARCO?
The profits they could
generate by transmitting power from the point of production to the
point of consumption without wires were enormous. Through normal powerline transmission this was not possible because of power losses
over long distances. What wireless transfers of electrical energy
could provide, with the right complement of equipment, could be
astounding.
Natural gas could be converted to transferable energy
and literally beamed to wherever it needed to go. Between May, 1994,
and April, 1995, no clear indications of this application for HAARP
were found until the other patents listed in this section and the
"key personnel" list for APTI was found and connected. In the
articles referenced by Eastlund in his patent, was another patent of
Tesla's (United States Patent 1,119,732).
This patent led to several
others which were related (787,412 and
685,956, among others).
Some
of these new APTI patents were exactly what was suspected - a
wireless power transmission system.
Patent number 4,686,605,
issued August 11, 1987 to Bernard J, Eastlund and assigned to APTI,
is one of three related patents by the same inventor cited in this
chapter. These patents revisit and go beyond the technical
applications envisioned by Tesla.
We quote from Eastlund's patent:
"In the past several years, substantial effort has been made to
understand and explain the phenomena involved in belts of trapped
electrons and ions, and to explore the possible ways to control and
use these phenomena for beneficial purposes. For example, in the
late 1950's and early 1960's both the United States and the U.S.S.R.
detonated a series of nuclear devices of various yields to generate
large numbers of charged particles at various altitudes, e.g. 200
kilometers or greater."
"This can cause confusion of or interference with or even complete
disruption of guidance systems employed by even the most
sophisticated of airplanes and missiles. The ability to employ and
transmit over very wide areas of the Earth a plurality of
electromagnetic waves of varying frequencies and to change same at
will in a random manner, provides a unique ability to interfere with
all modes of communication, land, sea, and/or air, at the same time.
Because of the unique juxtaposition of a usable fuel source at the
point where desirable field lines intersect the Earth's surface,
such wide ranging and complete communication interference can be
achieved in a reasonably short period of time...Thus, this invention
provides the ability to put unprecedented amounts of power in the
Earth's atmosphere at strategic locations and to maintain the power
injection level, particularly if random pulsing is employed, in a
manner far more precise and better controlled than heretofore
accomplished by the prior art, particularly by detonation of nuclear
devices of various yields at various altitudes... Further, by knowing
the frequencies of various electromagnetic beams employed in the
practice of this invention it is possible not only to interfere with
third party communications but to take advantage of one or more such
beams to carry out a communications network even though the rest of
the world's communications are disrupted. Put another way, what is
used to disrupt another's communications can be employed by one
knowledgeable of this invention as a communication network at the
same time. In addition, once one's own communication network is
established, the far reaching extent of the effects of this
invention could be employed to pick up communication signals of
others for intelligence purposes."
"This invention has a phenomenal variety of possible ramifications
and potential future developments. As alluded to earlier, missile or
aircraft destruction, deflection, or confusion could result,
particularly when relativistic particles are employed. Also, large
regions of the atmosphere could be lifted to an unexpectedly high
altitude so that missiles encounter unexpected and unplanned drag
forces with resultant destruction or deflection of same. Weather
modification is possible by, for example, altering upper atmosphere
wind patterns by constructing one or more plumes of atmospheric
particles which will act as a lens or focusing device. Also as
alluded to earlier, molecular modifications of the atmosphere can
take place so that positive environmental effects can be achieved.
Besides actually changing the molecular composition of an
atmospheric region, a particular molecule or molecules can be chosen
for increased presence. For example, ozone, nitrogen, etc.,
concentrations in
the atmosphere could be artificially increased. Similarly,
environmental enhancement could be achieved by causing the breakup
of various chemical entities such as carbon dioxide, carbon
monoxide, nitrous oxides, and the like."
While the HAARP device being constructed in Alaska at present may
not be large enough to create all of these effects, it could test
the ideas Dr. Eastlund expressed. The military denies that they are
using any of the Eastlund ideas; however, careful review of the
materials leads to the conclusion that the military is misleading
the public. Moreover, Dr. Eastlund in a National Public Radio
broadcast in 1988 reported that the military had tested some of the
ideas presented in the patents.
United States Patent Number 5,038,664 Issued: August 13, 1991
Invented by: Bernard I. Eastlund Titled: "Method for Producing a
Shell of Relativistic Particles at an Altitude above the Earth's
Surface".
In outlining the background of this invention in the patent, Dr.
Eastlund describes the development of particle beam weapons for
destroying incoming hostile missiles. The problem with particle
beams is that they require perfect targeting so that the object
could be hit and destroyed. The new invention eliminated the need
for such precision, in that it created a literal "shell" of
particles which would drift around the planet, destroying electrical
components of objects passing through the "shell".
According to the
patent,
"The shell so formed may be used as an antimissile shield.
The high-energy, relativistic particles in the shell will collide
with any missile passing there-through to give up energy which, in
turn, will damage or destroy the missile."
The power level described in the patent is extremely high, and the
effects on the environment, and most particularly on the weather are
unknown. What is known is that this type of power manipulation would
significantly destabilize natural ionospheric systems.
Another important aspect of this invention is that it also requires
large supplies of energy, and would have to be close to where the
magnetic lines of force around the planet intersect the earth, The
North Slope of Alaska is described as providing the ideal location.
United States Patent Number 4,712,155 Issued: December 8, 1987
Invented by: Bernard J. Eastlund and Simon Ramo. Titled: "Method and
Apparatus for Creating an Artificial Electron Cyclotron Heating
Region of Plasma".
The same previously cited
New York Times articles about Tesla's work were referred to in this
patent, with the same emphasis on the North Slope of Alaska being
the ideal place. Alaska has the right amount of natural gas and is
situated in the right place relative to the natural magnetic lines
of force. This invention could be used in communication systems, and
perhaps for energy transfers through the ionosphere, to be tapped
off at distant points.
The three Eastlund patents represent the advances on which HAARP
planners have hung their hats in putting forward the project.
United States Patent Number 5,068,669 Issued: November 26, 1991
Invented by: Peter Koert and James T. Cha. Titled; "Power Beaming
System".
Peter Koert was listed as one of the key people on the HAARP
project, in the government contract with APTI.157 Power beaming was
a technology that Nikola Tesla had developed through his patent
series referenced in Eastlund's work. The idea that Peter Koert
would become a key person to the HAARP program made a good deal of
sense, considering his expertise in power beaming technologies.
This "Star Wars" technology developed by ARCO Power Technologies,
Incorporated was used in a microwave-powered aircraft. The aircraft
was reported to be able to stay aloft for up to 10,000 hours at
80,000 foot altitudes in a single mission. This craft was envisioned
as a surveillance platform. The craft had no need for refueling
because the energy was beamed to it and then converted to electrical
energy for use by the aircraft. Flight tests were undertaken at
Tyendinga Airport near Kingston, Ontario, Canada in the early
1990's.158 This test by APT1 most likely involved this patent and
patent number 5,218,374 which is described in this chapter.
157
Office of Naval Research, Contract Number N00014-92-C-0210, ARCO Power Technologies
Incorporated as Contractors, September 16,1992 with Amendments
through October 19,1993.
158 Aviation Week, Volume 135, No, 22.
According to the patent,
"The present invention relates in general
to the transfer of energy by means of electromagnetic waves to power
a remote device. More specifically, the present invention relates to
a system for 'power beaming' energy from a source at high
frequencies and rectifying such energy to provide a source of DC
energy to a remote device."
The patent went on to describe the
attempts over the years to create a device which could be used and
was practical. The background section states,
"...the concept of
powering a satellite or free flying aircraft by power beaming has
received a great deaf of attention. The advantages of such a system
are readily apparent, for example, an aircraft could be maintained
on station indefinitely to act as a low cost communications or
reconnaissance platform."
The idea is to convert microwaves to DC power, which can be done
very efficiently and cost effectively with the right kind of
transmission system capable of focusing the power into a narrow
beam.
The HAARP system provides a very effective means of
transferring such power at maximum efficiency. Within the patent,
the use of the term "gyrotron" appears. It refers to cyclotron
resonance, a concept and primary part of the Eastlund patents and an
attribute of the HAARP transmitter, according to the government
records.
This technology has already been tested by APTI.
United States Patent Number 5,218,374 Issued: June 8, 1993 Invented
by. Peter Koert and James T. Cha. Titled: "Power Beaming System with
Printed Circuit Radiating Elements having Resonating Cavities".
Again, Peter Koert was listed as one of the key people assigned to
the HAARP project by APTI, according to the government contract. 159
Also important to note in this patent and the previous one, is the
mention of NASA report No. CR179558, March 11, 1987 by William C.
Brown of Raytheon Company. Raytheon did the basic work leading to
this patent.
William C. Brown is now at the University of Alaska
Fairbanks where he is continuing the development of these
technologies. His current project at UAF is called
SABER which is an
acronym for "Semi-Autonomous Beam Rider". The concept is to beam
radio-frequency energy to a helicopter in order to suspend it in the
air without an on-board fuel supply.
The project,
"is intended to
promote public interest and understanding concerning microwave power
transmission." 160
159
Office of Naval Research, Contract Number N00014-92-C-0210, ARCO Power Technologies
Incorporated as Contractors, September 16,1992 with Amendments
through October 19,1993.
160 Internet copy in below insert:
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SABER Homepage
Cutting Edge Technology
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Duckering 221
Fairbanks, AK 99775
from
PokerFlatResearchRange
Website
Abstract
SABER, an acronym for Semi-Autonomous BEam Rider, is
a microwave supported platform (helicopter). The
platform will consist of a Kyosho Concept 30 DX
model helicopter retrofitted with an Aveox
AVX-1412/7 electric motor. Power for the platform is
obtained from a rectenna (rectifying, ie. AC to DC,
antenna) array attached below the airframe of the 30
DX. The rectenna will convert an incident 2.45 GHz
beam to DC which will be conditioned by appropriate
circuitry to make the voltage levels suitable for
the various SABER subsystems. A rectenna is the
combination of a dipole antenna, a diode, and an
impedance matching network. The rectenna converts
radio frequency energy from free space waves into
direct current energy available at the rectennas
output terminals. SABER will sense the incident
microwave beam for attitude (rotational) and
position (with respect to transmitter)
determination. The only external control to the
platform will be a preprogrammed flight regime (a
communication system may make the flight duration
controlable). The flight programming will consist of
two binary dip switches to input maximum height
attained during flight, and maximum flight duration.
SABER is otherwise fully autonomous. SABER is
specified to be stable, robust against reasonable
disturbances, and to remain on station to within 10
cm on any axis with zero steady state error for step
disturbances. SABER will be flown outdoors as a
public demonstration of microwave power
transmission.
Background
The concept of microwave power transmission has been
examined for a very long time both in theory and in
the laboratory. To date there have been no
commercial implementations of microwave power
transmission beyond feasibility study. The most
promising application for microwave power
transmission is a solar power satellite. A very
large solar array at geosynchronous orbit converts
solar energy to electrical energy which is
transmitted as microwaves to an Earth station. At
the Earth station rectennas convert the microwave
energy to direct current which can be either
converted to alternating current for direct
distribution through a power grid, or can be used to
split hydrogen from water. The hydrogen is then
liquefied and transported to wherever needed.
Another application that is being studied a great
deal worldwide concerns aerosats. An aerosat
provides the same services as a satellite, remote
sensing, communications, etc., however the aerosat
remains within the Earth's atmosphere. The aerosat
can be either a fixed wing craft in a stationary
flight pattern, or a rotary wing craft at hover.
Microwave power transmission has been proposed as a
means to provide a continuous power source to the
aerosat. Canada has successfully flown a prototype
fixed wing microwave powered aerosat as part of
their SHARP study.
SABER is intended to promote public interest and
understanding concerning microwave power
transmission. SABER will also fulfill a more
tangible role as it is the culmination of a three
part study of which the first two portions were
completed over twenty years ago under the direction
of Mr. William C. Brown, formerly of Raytheon. The
first study, completed in 1965, concerned a rotary
wing supported platform guided by tethers [1]. The
platform obtained all of its power from an incident
2.45 GHz beam, converted to DC via a rectenna array.
The second study, completed in 1968, also concerned
a rotary wing supported platform. In the second
study the platform was guided by an on board
controller which was fully autonomous. Power was
supplied to the platform through an umbilical cord.
The unique point to the study was that the
controller obtained information about five out of
six degrees of freedom from sensors placed in an
incident 10 GHz beam. The sixth variable was the
height of the platform, and that was externally
controlled by a human operator. A third study was
envisioned in which elements from the first two
studies would be combined to build a rotary wing
supported platform which derived all of its power,
its attitude, and its position from an incident 2.45
GHz beam utilizing an autonomous controller. The
height of the platform would be directed by an
external human operator. The third study was never
conducted. Mr. Brown has spent the last twenty years
determined to complete the third study, and SABER
will realize that goal.
Overview
Figure 1 is a block diagram for SABER indicating the
flow of energy through the system from AC input to
the output thrust from the rotor blades. AC energy
is converted to DC energy and supplied to a
magnetron by a controlled current source. The
magnetron converts the DC energy into microwave
energy at 2.45 GHz. The microwave energy is then
radiated from the slotted waveguide array (SWGA) in
a tight beam. A portion of the microwave beam is
intercepted by a rectenna array. The rectenna array
converts the microwave energy back into DC energy
that is used by the rotary winged platform
(helicopter) to provide control and support,
enabling the platform to stay aloft indefinitely.
Transmission
In Figure 1 the blocks labeled Magnetron and Slotted
Waveguide Array form part of a modular transmission
system, an electrically steerable phased array
antenna (ESPAM), developed by Mr. Brown. The
magnetron is replaced by a magnetron directional
amplifier (MDA) in the ESPAM. The MDA is capable of
significant tuning in both its frequency of
operation and in its output power level, while still
maintaining the high efficiency that is
characteristic of magnetron devices. The slotted
waveguide array is a light weight, highly
directional array capable of mass fabrication. When
a large number of the MDA/SWGA elements are combined
together with suitable processing power, they form
an efficient phased array perfectly suited for
microwave power transmission at 2.45 GHz. SABER will
be a demonstration vehicle for one ESPAM element,
minus the MDA. The transmission system will radiate
more than one kilowatt of power.
Rectenna
The rectenna array will consist of 99 rectenna
elements from the original JPL Goldstone experiment
in which over 30 kW of power was received over a one
mile distance [3]. Each element is a complete
rectenna consisting of dipole, diode, and matching
section. The elements will be reconditioned and
joined to form a rigid, light weight,
two-dimensional array capable of supplying power to
the SABER subsystems. Figure 2 is a six element
detail of a section of the rectenna array
illustrating how the elements will be arranged. The
final array will consist of nine strings of eleven
elements each in offset geometry. The output of the
rectenna array is routed through power conditioning
circuitry in order to provide voltage levels that
are suitable for the other subsystems. The need to
dump unneeded energy absorbed by the array is
handled by the power conditioning circuitry. A key
point of this design is that the rectenna elements
themselves form part of the array structure.
Sensors
The sensor design utilizes four slot antennas and
appropriate circuitry to provide roll, pitch,
forward translation, and side translation
information to the helicopter controller. Figure 3
is a photograph of the pitch and forward translation
sensor circuit. The outputs from each pair of slot
antennas are routed into power splitters. One output
from each power splitter is fed into a rectifying
circuit. The outputs from the rectifying circuits,
two per sensor, are then connected to a differential
amplifier that produces an output proportional to
translational motion. The other outputs from the
power splitters are fed into ring couplers. Outputs
are taken from the ring couplers and manipulated by
circuitry to provide outputs proportional to
rotational motion. These signals are possible
because the microwave beam varies in both magnitude
and phase symmetrically in a plane parallel to the
transmitting antenna face. A pair of crossed dipoles
at the center of the helicopter body and mounted
below will provide yaw information with suitable
circuitry.
Controller
The control system for SABER will be implemented in
a single microcontroller. Forward_translation-inclination-yaw,
side_translation-vertical_translation-roll, and
motor_speed-power_dumping are the control divisions.
Figures 4 through 6 are block diagrams for each
subcontroller. The subcontrollers use state space
methods to provide the necessary control laws. The
control algorithms will be implemented on a Motorola
68HC711E9 microcontroller. Due to the intense
microwave environment in the vicinity of the
rectenna the control system circuitry will be
shielded and all exposed wiring will be protected as
necessary.
Communications
The communication subsystem is primarily for
downlinking state information from the helicopter to
the ground crew. An uplink is desired to provide
start/stop and abort signals to the helicopter
control system, but may not be feasable. The system
will be implimented in infra-red technology. Radio
frequency systems are not suitable due to the
intense energy enviroment surrounding the helicopter
during flight.
Conclusion
SABER will be a semi-autonomous rotary wing
supported platform. All power for SABER will be
extracted from an incident 2.45 GHz microwave beam
and converted to DC by a rectenna array. SABER will
sense all six degrees of freedom from sensors in the
incident beam. The control systems will provide
stable control and will be robust enough for outdoor
demonstration. SABER will promote the concept of
microwave power transmission with the general public
as a safe and realiable technology. This project is
the work of a few dedicated students at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the tireless
efforts of Prof. Joe Hawkins and Mr. William Brown.
References
[Contents] [previous] [Feedback]
[1] W. C. Brown, Experimental Airborne Microwave
Supported Platform, Techniques Branch Rome Air
Development Center Research and Technology Division
Air Force Systems Command, Griffis Air Force Base,
NY, Tech. Rep. RADC-TR-65-188, Dec. 1965.
[2] W. C. Brown, Experimental System For
Automatically Positioning A Microwave-supported
Platform, Raytheon, Burlington, MA, Tech. Rep. PT
1751, June 1968.
[3] W. C. Brown, Electronic and Mechanical
Improvement of the Receiving Terminal of a
Free-Space Microwave Power Transmission System,
NASA, Tech. Rep. CR-135194, August 1977.
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The system to be used by Brown in the wireless transmission of
energy to power the craft will be from a 2,45 GHz beam. This will
complete a series of tests which he started in 1965. The
transmission, and conversion, of this energy is now possible via the APTI patents and HAARP.
Raytheon, Brown's old employer and the new owner of the APTI
patents, was one of three bidders on the HAARP project. Eventually,
through a series of corporate buyouts, Raytheon would come to own
all of the patents described in this chapter as well as the contract
for the second phase of HAARP construction.
In the patent it was made clear that this was "a
continuation-in-part" of the previous patent by Koert and Cha. This
patent describes a system for converting radiofrequency (RF)
radiation into DC power using a "cross dipole antenna" which is to
be used to receive the RF energy before conversion to DC. This
patent carries the power-beaming ideas further, to the point where
they can be used.
Previously such systems were impractical because
of technical limitations.
United States Patent Number 5,293,176 Issued: March 8, 1994 Invented
by: Paul G. Elliot. Titled: "Folded Cross Grid Dipole Antenna
Element".
Although it is unknown whether this particular patent was used in
the HAARP program, what is known is that the inventor, Paul Elliot,
was part of the team identified in the government documents. He
obviously brought to the project a high level of knowledge of
antenna arrays and related technology. It is not known whether this
antenna was intended to be used for sending energy, receiving power
or both. This technology is useful in power-beaming systems as well
as the other applications described in other patents in this
chapter.
We speculate that this antenna provided a more efficient system of
energy transfer for use in the Eastlund applications. It is possible
that, with the antenna gain realized by this design, a larger amount
of power could be sent up to the ionosphere.
This might be possible
from a much smaller antenna field than originally contemplated by Eastlund.
United States Patent Number 5,202,689 Issued: April 13, 1993
Invented by: Robert W. Bussard and Thomas H. Wallace. Titled:
"Lightweight Focusing Reflector For Space".
The reflector is intended to complement power-beaming systems
previously described in this chapter. According to the patent,
"Large reflectors have many important applications in space.
Reflectors can be used, for example, to reflect sunlight onto a
solar collector or redirect a microwave power beam." The system for
the power-beaming described in this patent was designed for sending
10 gigawatts of power.
The transmitting, reflecting and receiving system is massive, and
the cost of building and using such a system is immense.
However,
according to the patent,
"The instant invention can be used to transmit power less
expensively than the use of microwaves within the Earth's
atmosphere. It is expected that as the cost of deploying equipment
in space decreases, the cost of using the instant invention to
transmit power will become lower than the cost of transmitting power
using conventional transmission lines. A cost analysis has been
performed using cost projections for the 2000 to 2010 time frame.
This cost analysis suggests that a principle limiting factor is
efficiency and the cost of the radio frequency sources, not the cost
of fabricating and launching the reflector."
The HAARP radiofrequency transmitter, using a focused beam, largely
addresses the transmitter-limiting factors described in the patent.
The patent goes on to describe the idea of generating energy in
locations where it is cheap, and beaming it to areas where energy
costs are high. The economic viability is shown, although the size
of the project is quite large. The construction of the TransAlaska
natural gas pipeline has been estimated at over $20 billion dollars,
without considering the costs of special ships, off loading
facilities and then power generating plants in addition to operating
costs.
To produce energy at the source and redirect the capital
costs of alternate systems to power beaming systems would likely be
economically feasible. However, there would be a significant risk to
anything flying in the path of the ten-gigawatt beam or if the
reflector was somehow turned, reflecting the energy into the wrong
receiving location and into perhaps a populated area.
This risk is
not adequately dealt with in the patent.
United States Patent Number 5,041,834 Issued: August 20, 1991
Invented by: Peter Koert. Titled: "Artificial Ionospheric Mirror
Composed of a Plasma Layer Which can be Tilted".
The expertise that Peter Koert brought to the HAARP project is most
evident in this application. This application was scheduled to be
tested in September, 1995. This test will be done using both HAARP
and HIPAS transmitters. The Artificial Ionospheric Mirror, or AIM as
it is referred to in the government records, will be very useful to
the military. This patent also refers to two of the Eastlund patents
161.
161 Eastlund Patent Numbers 4,686,605 and 4,712,155.
This invention creates an
Artificial Ionospheric Mirror (AIM) by
creating a plasma layer in the ionosphere which will allow a
transmitting station to bounce radiofrequency energy off of the AIM
for a variety of uses. This invention provides "over-the-horizon"
radar and communication capabilities to the military, over great
distances. It will allow the military to send communications, and
locate incoming objects, with significantly improved control and
efficiency.
In early HAARP planning, this was one of the areas
considered very important to the program and was referred to with
great enthusiasm by the military.
United States Patent Number 4,999,637 Issued: March 12, 1991
Invented by: Ronald M. Bass. Titled: "Creation of Artificial
Ionization Clouds Above the Earth".
This invention also drew
from the Eastlund patents162 which were cited in the issued patent
document. This is similar to the previous invention, but it uses two
antenna systems which send energy to the same point, thus creating,
by a complex set of ionospheric interactions, a "plasma cloud". The
cloud can also be made with one antenna. The cloud is created with
minimum energy, and allows a much improved "over-the-horizon" (OTH)
radar system in terms of detection of both far out and close in
objects.
162 Eastlund Patent Numbers
4,686,605 and
4,712,155.
An interesting part of the OTH radar system that HAARP, in part,
represents is that the HAARP transmitter is sitting on the
incomplete construction site of the original OTH radar system funded
by the United States Congress. The site was being demobilized
because the military suggested that with the Cold War ending it was
no longer needed.
It appears that the reason that the old OTH system was abandoned was
because it was obsolete - based on this new technology. The OTH radar
project never ended at this location; it just changed to a much more
versatile multi-use tool, the HAARP transmitter.
Another
consideration was that to build a HAARP radiofrequency transmitting
system was much quicker and cost effective.
United States Patent Number 4,954,709 Issued: September 4, 1990
Invented by: Arie Zigler, Yossef Elsen from Rishon Le Zion, Israel.
Titled: "High Resolution Directional Gamma Ray Detector".
This device was designed to work with some of the other patents. It
is intended to distinguish the "signature" (the unique
characteristics of the object which allow it to be identified at a
distance) of incoming airborne objects to determine if they are
carrying nuclear devices, among other things. The device allows an
operator to see the direction of the incoming objects by screening
out the directions which are of no concern.
In the words of the
patent,
"The present invention relates to gamma ray detection. More
specifically, the present invention is related to light weight
directional gamma ray detectors having a high degree of angular
resolution, high efficiency, and an ability to discriminate low
energy gamma rays."
The invention is-able to operate effectively in areas which have a
"large number of low energy background gamma rays." Gamma ray
detection of this type is required in order to operate the system in
the patent described below. It is also of use in other technologies
described in this chapter.
Gamma ray detection tells an operator a
great deal about an incoming object, and is particularly useful in
identifying objects carrying nuclear warheads.
United States Patent Number 4,817,495 Issued: April 4, 1989 Invented
by: Adam T. Drobot. Titled: "Defense System for Discriminating
Between Objects in Space".
This patent refers to Eastlund's earlier patent number 4,686,605 as
well as other documents about "Particle Beam Weapons" and
"Space-Based Ballistic-Missile Defense" systems more commonly
refer-red to as Star Wars systems.
This invention is intended to
work with gamma ray detectors and was described as;
"A defense system and a method for discriminating between armed
reentry vehicles and unarmed objects which are in close proximity of
each other. The reentry vehicles and the unarmed objects are bathed
in a cloud of relativistic electrons with the resulting signatures
from heavy objects, i.e., reentry vehicles, being imaged directly.
Detectors sense the location and identity of the reentry vehicles
and pass this information onto a weapons platform for tracking and
interception."
In reading this, we are tinked back to other patents described in
this chapter, and can see how these varied uses of Eastlund's
original ideas will have far-reaching effects on the way in which
wars are fought.
The importance of this invention to the military is described in the
patent;
"Presently, the expected scenario for any large-scale
intercontinental ballistic missile attack includes the deployment of
a large number of decoys and penetration aids in a 'threat cloud'
around one or more armed, reentry vehicles in an attempt to confuse
any defense systems set up to counteract the armed missiles...Since
the total number of objects expected in a typical threat cloud may
well exceed one hundred thousand, any truly effective defense system
must include a system which is capable of 'interrogating' all of the
objects in the threat cloud and quickly discriminating between the
deadly reentry vehicles and harmless decoys and penetration aids."
Also in the patent emphasis is placed on the value of a ground-based
system as opposed to other Star Wars systems which rely heavily on
earth-orbiting space hardware. Space borne systems are not as easy
to maintain, and more easily disabled by adversaries.
This invention
reduces the computing needs of defense systems significantly.
Reducing the number of tracked objects to just those which are a
real threat allows for targeting resources and counter measures to
be focused on them specifically.
The ideal location for this system is also identified as the North
Slope of Alaska, the most likely path for over the pole nuclear
missiles. It is also where the large gas reserves could
be used to create the necessary radiofrequency radiation
transmitting system. The same magnetohydrodynamic generators
mentioned by Eastlund are mentioned, along with the same type of
antenna arrays. The patent describes the concept in the same general
way that Eastlund did, but defines how the defense components would
interact with the system most efficiently.
Another application of this technology is described;
"While the present invention has been described for discriminating
between armed and unarmed vehicles in a threat cloud during an
impending attack, it can also be employed to 'interrogate' orbiting
satellites to determine if any said satellites may be carrying
nuclear weapons for future launch. Again, a cloud of relativistic
electrons would be created around the satellite of interest for
interaction therewith to produce a signature from that satellite
which, when analyzed, would reveal the nature of the materials
contained in the satellite."
This invention is demonstrated, in prototype form, by the HAARP
project. HAARP can be used in this way, and is intended to be used
for this purpose.
United States Patent Number 4,873,928 Issued: October 17, 1989
Invented by: Frank E. Lowther. Titled: "Nuclear-Sized Explosions
without Radiation".
This device was designed for "producing explosions from an explosive
gas mixture which has a shock yield comparable to a nuclear
explosion, but one which produces no radioactive fallout."
The patent described the background of the invention.
"Between 1945 and 1960, the United States exploded nuclear devices
which had a total yield equivalent to approximately 200 megatons
(MT) of trinitrotoluene (TNT). Tests conducted by other countries
during this time brought the total yield of nuclear explosions to
approximately 400 MT. It was quickly recognized that such testing
could not continue since each nuclear explosion produced
radioactivity that seriously threatened the environment. To protect
the environment from such radioactive fallout, most of the world's
nuclear powers signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 which
prohibited nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, underwater, and in
space..."
"The necessary prohibition against above-ground testing of nuclear
explosives, however, has created situations where alternates to such
explosions are needed. For example, all of the sophisticated
communication systems, defense systems, weapons systems, etc. that
have been designed and built for the military since 1963 have never
been tested in their ultimate operating environments, i.e. under
nuclear blast
conditions...Radiation dosages and electromagnetic pulses which
simulate those from nuclear explosions have been produced in
shielded laboratories but the extreme shock energies which can be
expected from nuclear explosions, e.g. 1 kiloton (KT) or larger,
have not been satisfactorily duplicated..."
So, APTI filled another technological void for military planners by
developing a way to test the effects of a nuclear sized shock wave's
impact on the electronics of defense systems. The invention side
steps the treaties on nuclear testing in the atmosphere which allow
the military the opportunity to test their hardware without
violating these international agreements. As far as is known, this
particular invention is not part of the HAARP program but is the
last of the APTI patents.
The ideal location of this invention, like the others, was
identified in the patent as the North Slope of Alaska.
"Preferably, the combustible gas is one that is naturally available
in large quantities and is one that can easily and safely be
transported to the test site. For example, large quantities of
natural gas, i.e. ,methane, are readily available in several
geographical areas. Especially attractive are the huge quantities of
methane in the North Slope area of Alaska, since there are remote
areas nearby which are suitable as a test site.
The methane can be
produced and safely transported to the test site by a common
pipeline. However, the test site does not have to be in close
proximity to the methane production area since the methane can be
gathered and safely pipelined for long distances as is now commonly
done in supplying energy to areas remote from the production area."
The idea of using the North Slope for nuclear sized weapons testing
is not new. It is a myth that the North Slope is some big wasteland
suitable only for creating craters with nuclear-size devices. This
is home for about 8,000 Alaska natives, and has been for thousands
of years. This area also supports significant animal life which the
United States has decided to preserve by carefully regulating
development, but the balance is delicate.
In the authors' opinion,
the North Slope is not the place for explosions of the size
contemplated in this patent.
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