BAE Systems Completes World's Premiere Facility for Ionospheric Physics Research.GAKONA, Alaska -- BAE Systems has completed work on the world's largest and most capable ionospheric research facility. The facility will be used to study interactions between high-power radio signals and the earth's ionosphere ionosphere (īŏn`əsfēr), series of concentric ionized layers forming part of the upper atmosphere of the earth from around 30 to 50 mi (50 to 80 km) to 250 to 370 mi (400 to 600 km) where it merges with the magnetosphere, the region . As the prime contractor for the U.S. Defense Department's High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is an investigation project to (HAARP HAARP High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program ) research station, BAE Systems designed and built the facility, operating software, and controls under a series of contracts valued at more than $250 million from the Office of Naval Research The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia (Ballston), is the office within the U.S. Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S. . The research station was dedicated on June 27 in a ceremony held at the Gakona site. Construction of the station was jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), U.S. government agency administered by the Department of Defense (see Defense, United States Department of). . It includes 360 radio transmitters with a combined power of 3.6 megawatts; 180, 68-foot-tall antennas covering an area of 40 acres; and five large generators providing more than 16 megawatts of power. "HAARP is a scientific project to study the properties and behavior of the ionosphere, with emphasis on using the ionosphere to improve communications and surveillance systems for civilian and defense purposes," said Rob Jacobsen, HAARP program director for BAE Systems in Washington, D.C. The ionosphere is the part of the atmosphere between space and the earth in which electrically charged atoms, or ions, reflect radio waves Radio waves Electromagnetic energy of the frequency range corresponding to that used in radio communications, usually 10,000 cycles per second to 300 billion cycles per second. , making long-distance radio communication possible. About BAE Systems BAE Systems is a global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions, and customer support services. BAE Systems, with 88,000 employees worldwide, had 2006 sales that exceeded $25 billion. |
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