USAF Radio Tower Monitors Earth’s Atmosphere

By ABIGAIL SNOW

Moapa Valley Progress

A temporary radio tower was placed at the Clark County Fairgrounds last week by U.S. Air Force officials to take a variety of measurements of the earth’s atmosphere after a NASA Terrier-Black Brant research rocket was launched Monday morning from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

According to 1st Lt Brett Stephens from Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, the radio tower, or ground station, is one of many towers set up across the southwest to transmit radio waves into the upper atmosphere and monitor affects to a region called the ionosphere, after the research rocket was launched. The radio waves bounce off the ionosphere and are received back at the transmitting site and at other distant sites, Stephens said.

The Ionosphere extends from about 50 to 500 miles above the earth and consists of ions and electrons that arrange themselves in layers. Radio signals can bounce off these layers making global communications possible. Everyday modern technology like GPS systems, cell phone signals, and satellite communications are possible because of bouncing signals off of the ionosphere, Stephens said.

A press release from White Sands Missile Range stated the rocket launched Monday carried a payload designed by scientists and engineers from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles

Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base. The research rocket releases a small quantity of vapor (about as much as is contained in a BBQ grill propane tank) into the near-vacuum of space to study processes responsible for formation of the Earth’s ionosphere. The vapor will diffuse harmlessly away into space, the release stated.

Stephens said the goal of the project is to obtain more information to create an ionosphere weather model that can be used to better understand the state of the ionosphere and predict how it will affect radio signals.

Understanding the ionosphere can me a major challenge because it can become turbulent due to small scale irregularities. These disturbances cause radio signals to become distorted to the point they are no longer understandable.

Disturbances in the ionosphere’s weather are caused by the sun’s effects on the earth’s atmosphere (space weather) and waves from the lower atmosphere. Space weather events can cause radio blackouts that disrupt high frequency (HF) radio communication. This can impact airline communications, HF radio communication, DoD Communications, satellite communication, astronauts (radiation), satellite failures, GPS navigation, and electric power grids.

“All of these are natural events that we can’t prevent,” Stephens said. “But if we can predict them we can better account for disruptions in communications systems and we can better adjust for these events.”

The temporary tower is expected to be removed from the fairgrounds later this week after data has been collected, Air Force officials said..