Some of you may be thinking of "Project West Ford", conducted in the early 1960's by MIT Lincoln Laboratory (where I work now). Many millions of tiny "needles" were launched into orbit to generate an artificial scattering medium above the earth for long range microwave communications. You must remember that this was at a time when there were no communications satellites or long-haul fiberoptic networks, which we take for granted today.
Technically the project was a success as it demonstrated microwave links from the east coast to west coast. However, it required very large ground terminals with very high transmitter power. Eventually interest in the concept died after the first communications satellites were deployed. Most of the needles eventually re-entered the atmosphere and disappeared, although I understand a few still remain in orbit. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_West_Ford and http://www.damninteresting.com/earths-artificial-ring-project-west-ford/ for more information. 73, John W1FV -----Original Message----- From: topband-boun...@contesting.com [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Delibert Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 7:59 AM To: n...@cox.net; k...@frontier.com; topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: "Artificial" Propagation...? As I remember the earlier project, it was an effort in the early or mid 1960s to create perpetual worldwide twilight by shooting millions of tiny copper needles into the upper atmosphere. I remember reading at the time that they became magnetized and stuck together for that reason. In any event, instead of dispersing, they orbitted for awhile as a large clump. --Art Delibert, KB3FJO ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK