Note to self: Next time a super-storm wipes out a major American city, do not wait two weeks to mention Ross Hoffman’s research into controlling hurricanes.
In May ’04, I wrote a bit about Hoffman and his work for Wired News:
For 25 years, Ross Hoffman has had a vision: to use tiny changes in the environment to alter the paths of hurricanes, slow down snow storms and turn dark days bright.
For most of those years, Hoffman kept his ideas largely to himself. His adviser at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told him weather control was too outlandish for his Ph.D. thesis. The chances of a buttoned-down foundation or government agency funding such research were so slim, Hoffman didn’t even bother to ask.
But, in 2001, all that changed. Hoffman stumbled upon a tiny, obscure cranny of the American space program — the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, or NIAC. In this $4 million-a-year agency, Hoffman found a place where the wildest of ideas were not only tolerated, they were welcome…
With his [NIAC research grant], Hoffman tweaked a weather-prediction program to show that moving a hurricane was possible — at least in theory. Here’s how: You need a ring of satellites in orbit, channeling the sun’s energy, stretching around the Earth. The machines would beam power to the planet, using microwaves. But, tuned to 183 GHz, they could also heat up small regions of the atmosphere by a degree or two. Those small changes could have enormous impact, Hoffman’s simulation showed. A deadly hurricane, headed for the Hawaiian island of Kauai, drifted off into the Pacific, harmlessly.
“One of the great things about NIAC is that they never say, ‘That’s crazy, you can never build a fleet of solar-powered space stations,’” Hoffman said.
In this Scientific American article from last October, Hoffman fleshes out his storm-curbing idea. If microwave-blasting satellites aren’t available, he suggests, maybe we could coat “the ocean surface with a thin film of a biodegradable oil that slows evaporation.”
(Big ups: /.)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Let me tell you. If this ever becomes reality, leftists and radical environmentlists will claim that this will cause unpredictable weather disaster changing the weather throughout the world and become useful as a weapon. Phillipines considered a concept years ago to decrease the hostility of typhoon, but it was rejected by other nations due to geopolitical problems that could cause damage to the crops for lack of rain. Some people don’t care about lives at steaks while they care more about their own ideology and the unpredictable weather.
The envirowhackos screeched about this long ago when beaming sunsat power from orbit was studied because of the possibility of atmospheric heating. And now someone thinks atmospheric heating is a good thing? I can hear heads popping without the benefit of hawaiian music already… ;)
I don’t want to HAARP on this issue too much (pun intended) but I’ve noticed a correlation to the patterns of Katrina and Rita and the data available from HAARP’s website (specifically the magnetometer readings). FYI: HAARP is an “ionospheric heater”. Just thought I’d mention that since a previous post, and this article, referred to heating the atmosphere.
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/ HAARP Homepage
http://137.229.36.30/cgi-bin/magnetometer/gak-mag.cgi Magnetometer readings (select and review the last week’s readings and compare to the movement and speed of Rita)
I sent an E Mail using your “contact us” and got one screwed up E Mail address. I changed it so that it might go through. Keith
After experimenting for 60 years in controlling hurricanes in Projects Cirrus, Stormfury and Popeye – see google – it looks like the 2006 storm season was a great success. No major stomr has hit the US this year because all that weather technology found in Dr. HOffman’s article in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN in Oct 2004 is now being used and hurricanes have been destroyed or had their courses changed.For example Hurricane Chris was headiung directly at S.Florida in July but SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED! A SPACE SATELLITE BEAMING DOWN MICRWAVES PROBABLY DID IT. Who is behind this program to stop these storms? IT is not the White House, but THE OIL COMPANIES, THE INUSRANCE COMPANIES AND THE ISRAEL GOVERNMENT (trying to protect the Jewish communities in Florida).