(Newswire.net — December 30, 2018) — Chinese scientists have announced that Russia and China are working together on a project to ionize the Earth’s atmosphere for research purposes, the South China Morning Post reports.
According to the report both countries have already carried out experiments on heating the upper part of the air layer at a height of 500 kilometers.
Although researchers know nothing about possible military involvement, the newspaper claims the technology behind the project can also be used for military purposes.
The paper states that the experiments were carried out using the multifunctional radio system which is intended for the study of the ionosphere, a layer that has a high density of free electrons.
The system is located in Sura, the atmospheric heating facility in the vicinity of town Vasilsursk, some 150 kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod.
There were ten times more negatively charged particles recorded in that area than in the surrounding regions which caused various effects. On June 7th, the electromagnetic interference caused an increase of temperature to 212 degrees Fahrenheit in the higher levels of the atmosphere that covers an area of 49,000 square miles, or about half the size of Britain.
Disturbances in the ionosphere were recorded by the Chinese scientific-research satellite Zhangheng-1, which is intended for monitoring electromagnetic fields and waves in the atmosphere.
According to Chinese scientists, even a low beam radius can cause noticeable disorders in the ionosphere.
A similar phenomenon can be seen before an earthquake, which makes Zhangheng-1 suitable for predicting natural disasters.
Although scientists have pointed out that they are not aware that it is possible to apply the results of the experiment for military purposes, the newspaper stated that disturbances in the ionosphere could interfere with the satellite links of a potential opponent.
At the moment, China is the counterpart of the Russian Sura system, equivalent to the US-based HAARP project, which will be able to ionize the atmosphere above the South China Sea.