Dr. Bernhardt has conducted over eight experiments from 1985 to the present, using the Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuver Subsystem (OMS) engines, to modify the ionosphere with high-speed exhaust injections into the upper atmosphere. The results of these dedicated engine burns have been recorded using the VHF and UHF radars at Arecibo, Puerto Rico; Kwajalein, Marshall Islands; Millstone Hill, Massachusetts; and Jicamarca, Peru. Currently, Dr. Bernhardt is the principal investigator for the Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE) program, designed to study the scattering of radar from electrons in the vicinity of charged particulates that form artificial "dusty plasmas."

Coherent Back-Scatter Radar 50 MHz (RESCO)

The Coherent Back-Scatter Radar of 50 MHz (RESCO) was installed at the Space Observatory of São Luís / INPE, whose operation begun in August of 1998, is capable to accomplish measures of dynamics of the plasma of the electrojet and of bubbles equatorial ionospheric. This radar was projected to map the turbulence and the electromagnetic drift of the irregularities of short length scale (3 meters) in a height range that extends from ~90 km to ~1000 km of the equatorial ionosphere. Such plasma irregularities have big influence in the propagation trans-ionosphere of waves in a great frequency range, VHF to UHF, and, therefore, it influence all of the activities of space communications of the Brazilian tropical area. The formation, the development and the space distribution of these irregularities are highly sensitive to the space climatic change (in other words, "Space Weather") besides the convection processes and of the storms of the troposphere.

This radar resulted of the development and construction begun in INPE there are several years. It transmits signs pulse of high potency through an network antenna with 768 dipoles which allow to concentrate all the energy transmitted in only narrow beam radiation. The same antenna also captures the echo signs spread by the irregularities ionosphere. The transmitted maximum power (120 kW) it is reached through the use of a modular system of 8 transmitters in phase to maximize the transmitted energy. The operational control of the radar is made by a computer, which also accomplishes the acquisition, the treatment and processing 'on line' of the received data of the ionosphere. The data recorded are available also for the processing and analyze subsequent. This radar was already operated in several campaigns since 1998 and now it is collecting in a routine way data of the dynamics of the equatorial electrojet.

This radar, with the FCI radar of 30 MHz together offers great opportunities to the researchers of studying the peculiar phenomenon of the equatorial area. These, beside the radars of Peru (Jicamarca), of the India (Thumba) and of the Indonesia, are some of the few radars of this type that exist in the world around of the magnetic equator. Due to the peculiar configuration of the geomagnetic field, the Brazilian equatorial area have characteristics very different from the other areas. It was for this reason that NASA of the USA, in collaboration of INPE, accomplished in Alcântara in 1994 the campaign GUARÁ when 26 rockets were thrown (in the period of September-October) to study the equatorial electrojet and the bubbles ionosphere. In this campaign were used another radar similar to the radar RESCO (which was brought of the USA), Digissonde (which provided the diagnoses of the ionosphere) and of the magnetometers operated by INPE in the Space Observatory of São Luís. The radar RESCO, that is now in a phase of technological improvement, offers great potential to promote researches of the environment of the Brazilian equatorial area.

Rua Horto Florestal, 100, Cruzeiro Santa Bárbara, Sao Luis-MA - Brasil

The Millstone Hill Steerable Antenna, or MISA, is a fully steerable dish antenna, 46 meters in diameter, designed by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in 1959. It is currently located at MIT Haystack Observatory in Westford, Massachusetts. It was originally installed at the Sagamore Hill Radio Observatory in Hamilton, Massachusetts in 1963. The antenna operated at that location until 1978, at which time it was relocated to Millstone Hill. Since that time it has been primarily used as a UHF radar antenna to provide measurements of the near space environment using the incoherent scatter radar technique. It is one of two surviving dish antennas of this type in the world with the other antenna being located at the Stanford University radio science field site in Stanford, California. MISA is used to provide wide radar coverage in latitude and longitude.

MISA is a broad-based observatory capable of addressing a wide range of atmospheric science investigations. The incoherent scatter radar facility at Millstone Hill has been supported by the National Science Foundation since 1974 for studies of the earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere. During this time the facility has evolved from a part-time research operation sharing radar cooling and power supply elements with the M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory Millstone satellite tracking radar, to a separately funded, operationally independent system dedicated to upper atmospheric research. The scientific capability of the Millstone Hill facility was greatly expanded in 1978 with the installation of a fully-steerable 46 meter antenna to complement the 67 meter fixed zenith pointing dish.

The favorable location of Millstone Hill at sub-auroral latitudes combined with the great operational range afforded by the steerable antenna permit observations over a latitude span encompassing the region between the polar cap and the near-equatorial ionosphere. Since 1982 the Haystack Observatory Atmospheric Sciences Group has been supported for operating the Millstone Hill research radar as a part of the incoherent scatter radar chain and for associated studies of the auroral and sub-auroral ionosphere and thermosphere. The meridional radar chain extends from Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland through Millstone Hill at mid-latitudes, beyond Arecibo at low latitudes, to the Jicamarca facility at the magnetic equator in Peru. The radar chain forms an integral part of the NSF-supported CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) observing network and Millstone Hill observations and analysis have contributed extensively to the successes of the CEDAR initiative.

The Millstone Hill Radar uses Thomson backscatter from ionospheric electrons to deduce height- and time-resolved plasma drift velocities, electron and ion temperatures, electron densities, ion composition, and ion-neutral collision frequencies. These parameters provide further information about the neutral gas, neutral temperatures and winds, and electric fields present in the medium. The incoherent scatter technique provides observations of many of these parameters over an altitude range extending from less than 100 km to a thousand kilometers or more. Methods have been developed that allow these measurements to be made with an altitude resolution of hundreds of meters. The complete steerability of the radar allows horizontal gradients and structure to be examined along with vertical variations.

The Observatory is the premier scientific facility in the world for studying the equatorial ionosphere. It has a 2-MW transmitter and a main antenna with 18,432 dipoles covering an area of nearly 85,000 square meters.

The Platteville Atmospheric Observatory was envisioned in 1962 by what is now the Institute of Telecommunication Sciences (ITS), a part of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), as a site for high-powered radio experiments. While the initial experiment, that took place in 1968, studied over-the-horizon radar, the majority of later experiments used high power radio waves to modify the ionosphere in a process that is sometimes called ionospheric heating because it raises the electron temperature in the ionosphere.

The ionospheric heater was still used until 1984, when the last ionospheric experiments were performed. In the same year, the transmitters were loaned to the Office of Naval Research and sent to HIPAS in Alaska where they are still used.

With the removal of the transmitters, the focus of the facility changed to smaller-powered observation of the atmosphere rather than modifying it. In 1988 the 404 MHz RASS was installed and the ownership of the facility was transferred from NTIA to NOAA-ERL.

HIPAS is located 30 miles Northeast of Fairbanks Alaska; in the small community of Two Rivers. It occupies 120 acres of land and has six buildings. The facility is located at: latitude and longitude.
The facility operates year-round.

The HIPAS facility is engaged in the study of the Ionosphere through the use of high power radio transmission as well as a state-of-the-art LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging ) facility.

The Heater system consists of 8 transmitters capable of conducting amplitude modulation of 100 Hz - 20 kHz and phase modulation of 0 -20 kHz. Each transmitter can transmit up to 150kW at 2.85 or 4.53 MHz on CW mode.

The Heater antenna system consists of a circular array of 8 crossed dipoles, copper wire ground-planes and resonant triaxial baluns.

The LIDAR facility consists of a 2.7 meter LMT (Liquid Mirror Telescope) with a 4.5 meter focal length as well as 6 state-of-the-art lasers.

The EISCAT Scientific Association is an international research organisation operating three incoherent scatter radar systems, at 931 MHz, 224 MHz and 500 MHz, in Northern Scandinavia. It is funded and operated by the research councils of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and Germany (collectively, the EISCAT Associates).

EISCAT (European Incoherent Scattter) studies the interaction between the Sun and the Earth as revealed by disturbances in the magnetosphere and the ionised parts of the atmosphere (these interactions also give rise to the spectacular aurora, or Northern Lights). The radars are operated in both Common and Special Programme modes, depending on the particular research objective, and Special Programme time is accounted and distributed between the Associates according to rules which are published from time to time.

One EISCAT transmitter site is located close to the city of Tromsø, in Norway, and additional receiver stations are located in Sodankylä, Finland, and Kiruna, Sweden. See an animation that shows the basic operation. The EISCAT Headquarters are also located in Kiruna. 1996 the EISCAT Scientific Association constructed a second incoherent scatter radar facility, the EISCAT Svalbard Radar, near Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen, far to the North of the Norwegian mainland.

The Incoherent Scatter Radar technique requires sophisticated technology and EISCAT engineers are constantly involved in upgrading the systems.

In addition to the incoherent scatter radars, EISCAT also operates an Ionospheric Heater facility at Ramfjordmoen (including a Dynasonde) to support various active plasma physics experiments in the high latitude ionosphere.

ABOUT NATIONAL MST RADAR FACILITY

Indian scientists have carried out pioneering research work in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics, solar/interplanetary medium, earth's upper atmosphere/ionosphere, aeronomy/middle atmosphere and weather/climate phenomena. The nationally coordinated Indian Middle Atmosphere Programme (IMAP) was implemented during the period 1982-89 with well focussed campaign experiments with ground based, balloon, rocket and satellite based techniques. The IMAP programme led to the decision to conduct in-depth studies of atmosphericdynamical phenomena by developing a versatile ground based radar technique...

...The MST Radar is a state of the art instrument capable of providing estimates of atmospheric parameters with very high resolution on a continuous basis which are essential in the study of different dynamical processes in the atmosphere. It is an important research tool in the investigation of prevailing winds, waves ( including gravity waves) turbulence, and atmospheric stability & other mesoscale phenomena . A reliable three dimensional model of the atmosphere over the low latitudes improves our understanding of the climatic and weather variations...

Establishment of NMRF

Attaching great importance to the scientific utilisation of the Indian MST Radar, the Government of India decided to create an autonomous Scientific Society called the National MST Radar Facility (NMRF). This society is affliated to the Department Of Space. The NMRF was registered on January 11, 1993 under the Indian Societies Act 1860.
This society is administered by a Governing Council under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Secretary DOS with, Director , NMRF as the member secretary . The present Director of NMRF is Prof D. Narayan Rao .The Governing Council consists of other eminent scientists, representatives of the National Laboratories and some of the funding agencies.The Governing Council sets broad policy guidelines to ensure the effective scientific utilisation of the facility, supported by a Scientific Advisory Commitee & a Finance Commitee.

Location Of NMRF

The scientific requirements dictated that the Indian MST Radar should be located preferably below 15 degrees North latitude. Hence after careful consideration of the various constraints, a site at Gadanki Village, near the temple town of Tirupati in the Chitoor district of Andhra Pradesh was selected for locating the Indian MST Radar . NMRF is located off the Chitoor -Tirupati main road in a picturesque landscape spreading over an area of about 42 acres. Regular train and bus services are operated between Tirupati and Bangalore/Madras. On request NMRF may provide transport between Tirupati and Gadanki.

Introduction

The Jicamarca Radio Observatory is the equatorial anchor of the Western Hemisphere chain of incoherent scatter radar (ISR) observatories extending from Lima, Perú, to Søndre Strømfjord, Greenland. It is part of the Geophysical Institute of Peru (Instituto Geofísico del Perú, or IGP) and receives the majority of its financial support from the National Science Foundation of the U.S. through a Cooperative Agreement with Cornell University.

The Observatory is the premier scientific facility in the world for studying the equatorial ionosphere. It has a 2-MW transmitter and a main antenna with 18,432 dipoles covering an area of nearly 85,000 square meters.

Projects
JP 2025 - Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN)

The JORN project arose out of extensive research undertaken by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) into over-the horizon radar (OTHR) beginning in the early 1970s. As part of the 1987 Defence White Paper, the Government placed a high priority on wide area surveillance of the north and north western approaches to Australia and OTHR was seen to be the most cost effective solution. As a consequence, in December 1990, the Government approved the design and construction of JORN.

The Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) consists of two OTHR, one near Longreach, Qld. and the other near Laverton, WA, jointly operated from the JORN Coordination Centre (JCC) at RAAF Base Edinburgh, SA by No 1 Radar Surveillance Unit. The radars are an advanced development of the Australian designed Jindalee radar at Alice Receiver Site, Laverton WA - click on image to enlargeSprings which is in operational use as well as being a research and development facility used by DSTO for ongoing OTHR improvement. JORN radars are capable of all weather detection of air and surface targets inside an arc of up to 3,000 km range extending from Geraldton in the west around to Cairns in the east. JORN makes a crucial contribution to broad area surveillance of Australia's strategically important northern approaches.

Abstract: The operational concept of the Jindalee over-the-horizon operational radar network (JORN) is the centralised control and co-ordination of remote sensors. The radar sites are in Laverton, WA and Longreach, Queensland, while the co-ordination centre is situated in Adelaide, South Australia. An extensive communications network is needed to control the radars and their associated frequency management systems, transfer partly processed data for final analysis at the co-ordination centre, and pass track information to the command support systems of the Australian Defence Force and other users. The principle of operation, configuration and concept of the Jindalee project are briefly outlined to provide the context of the communications requirement. The communications infrastructure to support this operational concept is then described together with the main factors which have influenced the design of JORN communications.

Space Nuclear Facility test capability at the Baikal-1 and IGR sites
Semipalatinsk-21, Kazakhstan

Hill, T. J.; Stanley, M. L.; Martinell, J. S.
Presented at the Nuclear Power Engineering in Space Nuclear Rocket Engines, Kazakhstan, Russia, 22-26 Sep. 1992

The International Space Technology Assessment Program was established 1/19/92 to take advantage of the availability of Russian space technology and hardware. DOE had two delegations visit CIS and assess its space nuclear power and propulsion technologies. The visit coincided with the Conference on Nuclear Power Engineering in Space Nuclear Rocket Engines at Semipalatinsk-21 (Kurchatov, Kazakhstan) on Sept. 22-25, 1992. Reactor facilities assessed in Semipalatinski-21 included the IVG-1 reactor (a nuclear furnace, which has been modified and now called IVG-1M), the RA reactor, and the Impulse Graphite Reactor (IGR), the CIS version of TREAT. Although the reactor facilities are being maintained satisfactorily, the support infrastructure appears to be degrading. The group assessment is based on two half-day tours of the Baikals-1 test facility and a brief (2 hr) tour of IGR; because of limited time and the large size of the tour group, it was impossible to obtain answers to all prepared questions. Potential benefit is that CIS fuels and facilities may permit USA to conduct a lower priced space nuclear propulsion program while achieving higher performance capability faster, and immediate access to test facilities that cannot be available in this country for 5 years. Information needs to be obtained about available data acquisition capability, accuracy, frequency response, and number of channels. Potential areas of interest with broad application in the U.S. nuclear industry are listed.

Update 2007-12-02 09:59:49

"These were part of the experiments do by the SU with Teslas work towards power transmission and communication. Pictures all over the place on the internet. Nothing mysterious or new about it. Or perhaps its a secret installation for taking over the world. Take you pick."

Below is the entry gate from Google Earth images... the caption translates to...
"Isled. the center of the high energies"

History

The Soviets had been working on early warning radars for their anti-ballistic missile systems through the 1960s, but most of these had been line-of-sight systems that were useful for raid analysis and interception only. None of these systems had the capability to provide early-warning of a launch, which would give the defenses time to study the attack and plan a response. At the time the Soviet early-warning satellite network was not well developed, so work started on over-the-horizon radar systems for this associated role in the late 1960s.

The first experimental system, Duga-1, was built outside Mykolaiv in the Ukraine, successfully detecting rocket launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2,500 kilometers. This was followed by the prototype Duga-2, built on the same site, which was able to track launches from the far east and submarines in the Pacific Ocean as the missiles flew towards Novaya Zemlya. Both of these radars were aimed east and were fairly low power, but with the concept proven work began on an operational system. The new Duga-3 systems used a transmitter and receiver separated by about 60 km.[2]

Ionospheric sounding network and data in China

Wu Jian Jiao Peinan Xiao Zuo Wan Weixing Liu Ruiyuan Zhao Zhengyu
LEME, China Res. inst. of Radiowave Propagation, Beijing;

This paper appears in: Antennas, Propagation and EM Theory, 2000. Proceedings. ISAPE 2000. 5th International Symposium on
Publication Date: 2000
On page(s): 688-691
Meeting Date: 08/15/2000 - 08/18/2000
Location: Beijing, China
ISBN: 0-7803-6377-9
References Cited: 10
INSPEC Accession Number: 6963766
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/ISAPE.2000.894880
Current Version Published: 2002-08-06

Abstract
Ionospheric sounding has been conducted routinely for more than 60 years in China. A complete network of ground-based sounding sites covers the Chinese subcontinent, including vertical and oblique sounding, GPS measurement of ionospheric TEC and scintillation, VLF receivers measuring the lower ionosphere etc. In this paper, we give a picture of the sounding network, equipment situation and data acquired with emphasis on vertical ionosonde network