Russia will build a super antenna to study space weather

Researchers at the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have prepared a project for a new ICAR-AI heating stand. It will be placed in the south of the Baikal region, where a set of ground-based astrophysical instruments is located as part of the National Geogeliophysical Complex.

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According to the developers, the heating stand is an antenna field installed on 60 masts on an area of 700 by 700 meters. It serves to affect the ionosphere (upper layer of the atmosphere), by radio radiation

"The effective power of the complex will be about 900 MW. It will generate radio waves in the range from 2.5 to 6.0 MHz. Such radiation effectively transfers energy to electrons of ionospheric plasma. In doing so, part of the waves are reflected and part of the energy is dissipated in the upper atmosphere. This process is called "plasma heating"," Roman Vasiliev, deputy director for research work of the ISPP SB RAS, told Izvestia.

He explained that modifying the ionosphere with powerful short-wave radiation will help to study its properties under controlled conditions.

Now there are three heating stands operating on the planet. They are EISCAT-Heating in Northern Norway, HAARP in the United States, in Alaska and SURA in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

Read more in the exclusive material of Izvestia:

ICAR flight: super antenna for studying space weather will be built in Russia