By Jutta Schmitt
Every technology on the market today is based on alternating current technologies in relation with semiconductor technologies and if these were seriously threatened this would mean, in the final analysis, that everything that we nowadays need to live, work and recreate ourselves, could be destroyed. -- Uwe Behnken --
It's intriguing. Just barely a week after the Asilomar Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies had taken place in Pacific Grove, California, we heard honorable knights for the defense of global climate integrity, such as the American Enterprise Institute's Resident Fellow and Co director of the AEI Geoengineering Project Lee Lane, advocate a global imposition of geoengineering technologies on behalf of the advanced, industrialized states of the world in the firm conviction, that "geoengineering experiments shouldn't require global agreement“, because these would in any case be guided by the shining light of the government of the United States and its noble constitutional obligation to promote the welfare of the American people. This is how Lane evokes 'American national interest', this magic, self-sufficient concept that justifies the use of any means in order to obtain, that is, impose the desired objective. (1)
Why declare geoengineering experiments a matter of 'national interest' (read: national security interest)? Why not declare the wellbeing of the planetary climate and overall ecosystems a matter of national or planetary security interest for that matter, and subsequently demand the immediate discontinuance of irrational profit production and unbound consumerism, which got us into this mess in the first place? Why this sudden, violent interest in geoengineering experiments by scientists, international climate panels, United Nations entities, policy centers, research facilities, scientific communities and even Think Tanks with their scores of fellows and scholars? Why did we not see the same violent interest with regard to a binding commitment at the Rio, Kyoto or Copenhagen Earth Summits? And why call for the global imposition of geoengineering technologies on behalf of the 'advanced, more industrialized states' of the world?
Furthermore, if geoengineering experiments are all of a sudden being considered imperative, why does the so-called scientific community, as well as civil and military authorities in various countries of the world deny the fact that one of the proposed climate intervention techniques, pertaining to Solar Radiation Management, has already and progressively been implemented on a considerably large scale since years?
The hard facts on the ground – or in the sky, for that matter - don't go away by denying them. Solar Radiation Management by 'injection of sulfate or other materials into the stratosphere' as proposed by the working agenda of the past Asilomar Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies and as seen, photographed, filmed, documented, studied and analyzed during years by ordinary citizens, environmental activists, air traffic controllers, radar technicians, alternative journalists, meteorologists, chemists and physicians, has been occurring over North America and Europe since the nineties. The question is, if the massive blasting into the stratosphere of a mixture of metals and polymers to form a haze-like layer in the skies in order to deflect solar radiation is actually that good of an idea, given the extreme toxicity of the materials being sprayed and given the fact that they finally do come down back to the surface of the Earth. Thus, to a far-sighted, ecological, nature-preserving mind it seems utterly illogical to resort to this kind of measures which have a heavily contaminating effect on the overall environment - air, water, soils, humans, animals, plants, that is, life on the planet as such.
For the sake of (relative) brevity, we will not go into detail to describe and explain Chemtrail Spraying in this article, but instead encourage our readers to get active and do a thorough research on the Internet by themselves. Suffice it to say here, that the until now publicly denied operations of ongoing Chemtrail Spraying are, in fact, related to 'Solar Radiation Management', consisting of the massive injection of a combination of metallic and other particles - microscopic in scale - into the stratosphere. Interestingly and essential for us to note, it was the late Edward Teller, member of the Manhattan Project and father of the Hydrogen Bomb, co-founder and director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who proposed this geoengineering technique together with Roderick Hyde and Lowell Wood and who designed a variety of mixtures according to the specific tasks they have to perform, among which figure the deployment of "electrically-conducting sheets“ or "metallic 'nets' of ultra-fine mesh-spacing“ in the stratosphere. (2) Equally interesting is the fact, that Teller himself did not only doubt that society's carbon dioxide emissions were responsible for global warming, but questioned global warming as such, when stating in a 1997 article, titled 'The Planet needs a Sunscreen', that "It's wonderful to think that the world is so very wealthy that a single nation -- America -- can consider spending $100 billion a year on a problem that may not exist.“ (3) He explicitly repeated this doubt in a 2002 co-authored paper on 'Active Climate Stabilization.' (4) So, by all means, why then seriously bother about the research, development and actual deployment of 'geoengineering techniques' such as spraying the stratosphere with chemicals, in order to to 'fend off solar radiation' ?!
Considering the counter-productivity of the whole concept of 'solar radiation management' – deflecting solar radiation by creating a layer of highly toxic, artificial 'clouds' may as well block and trap outbound heat from the Earth and thus worsen 'global warming' – the question arises, why it is actually being done.
The very logics of global capitalism and capitalist globalization that dictates each and every consideration, each and every action undertaken by the transnational corporations of this world and their political and military executives on a national and international scale, and which impose their decisions on billions of people, indicates that Solar Radiation Management is NOT being conducted to 'mitigate the effects of global warming' but to address an immediate problem, as severe as that of global warming for the survival of human civilization as we have known it, and which can best be described as the Electronic Achilles Heel of Modern Civilization.
In a 2009 interview with Ludwig Glinz about 'Sferic Frequencies, Semiconductor Technologies and their effective Preservation and Protection', Uwe Behnken, founder of LiveNet Concept 2010 and long time activist against Chemtrail Spraying, suggests that the massive injection of toxic substances into the stratosphere ever since the nineties bears a direct relation to the protection of highly sensitive semiconductor technologies.
„[..] Natural electromagnetic pulses are known to everybody ever since the film 'The Day After' where we learnt what happens if these are created artificially by means of the explosion of an atom bomb. If an atomic weapon explodes, the electromagnetic pulse causes semiconductor technologies to stop functioning. The same electromagnetic pulses can be registered in the event of elevated sferic frequencies or nuclear electromagnetic pulses stemming from elevated sun activities, and from our perspective this is another reason why it is undertaken to repel these sferic frequencies with the help of toxic substances, like aluminium oxides and barium-chlorides so as to protect semiconductor technologies.“ (5)
For a better understanding of this statement and its consequences, we'll briefly examine some basic concepts related to semiconductor technology and the reasons for its growing vulnerability.
All modern technology is based on semiconductor technology, used in the production of microelectronic integrated circuits (microchips) on an ever more minute scale and with an ever greater number of in-built 'components' per unit, so to speak. No applied technology in our computerized age, be it in the realm of production, energy, communication, trading, finance, transportation, scientific research and development, space exploration and military operations, works without semiconductor technology. A semiconductor is a material like silicon or germanium (6) characterized by an "intermediate conductivity" which oscillates between that of a conductor and an insulator and which displays a rapid variation of conductivity depending on temperature. The current in semiconductors is either carried by the flow of electrons or by the flow of positively-charged "holes" in the electron structure of the material. An external electrical field may change a semiconductor's resistivity or 'behavior' for that matter. (7)
One of the problems related to semiconductor technology and as derived from some of its specific characteristics is, that upon exposure to various types of particles of atmospheric radiation - alpha particles, various ions, protons, and neutrons which can 'hit' the device - it can change state or alter its output, leading to an error. This phenomenon is widely known by the manufacturers and has been called 'Single Event Effect' (SEE), which, in turn, is classified in three basic categories: A soft error or 'single event upset' (SEU), a soft or hard error or 'single event latchup (SEL) and a hard failure or 'single event burnout' (SEB).
In the Atmospheric Radiation Effects Whitepaper, prepared by Ken Vranich in 2007, this author discusses the growing impact of atmospheric radiation effects on semiconductor devices, specifically the impact on avionics, identifying natural atmospheric radiation as the overriding cause of Single Event Effects or device failures due to the fact that semiconductor technology undergoes constant sophistication, which means it's being performed on an ever more minute scale. The scale we are talking about is so tiny that the collision of neutrons with the semiconductor material results in the deposition of a charge in this material and thus leads to an alteration of its state or even to the destruction of the device. The author explains these characteristic errors and failures of semiconductor devices as follows:
"Single event upset (SEU) is a condition that causes corruption of data or logic state in a device resulting in erroneous output. This is a soft error, meaning that data could be updated or corrected or the part reset and normal functionality would be resumed. ... Single event latchup (SEL) is a condition in some [type of semiconductors] where the energy deposited locally in a device by the single particle has turned on parasitic transistors causing high current through the device. ... This SEL usually causes loss of device functionality. ... Single event burnout (SEB) is a condition in a high voltage device (voltages of 500 or 600 volts) resulting from the energy deposition by a single particle leading to a feedback mechanism that exceeds the breakdown voltage and therefore destroys the device. ... Single Event Effects can also cause secondary breakdown in bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), resulting in burnout of the transistor ... “ (8)
The Atmospheric Radiation Effects Whitepaper deals essentially with the uncomfortable fact that the failure rate in semiconductor devices has been increasing exponentially due to the steady advancement of semiconductor technology, making them not only vulnerable to high-energy or fast neutrons, but also to low-energy or slow (thermal) neutrons. The author estimates that it will take years until the big manufacturers of integrated circuits will respond to this challenge and warns of the unprecedented consequences that this will have, in this case for aviation electronics, concerning both commercial as well as military avionics and which may lead to the severe limitation of operations or even grounding of aircraft, due to intolerably high processor failure rates. For a combination of technical factors which the author does not specify, he identifies the military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s), crucial in America's ongoing and future warfare operations around the planet, as the type of aircraft most vulnerable to this threat, mainly because they are composed of so called 'commercial-off-the-shelf equipment', leading to what the author says is an "unacceptably high probability of 'loss of command and control'“. (9)
As for the natural causes of atmospheric radiation and their effects on semiconductor devices, the author explains that the exposure to the range of potentially hazardous particles increases with growing latitude and altitude, especially during times of elevated sun activity. As far as the latter is concerned, the author stresses the importance of solar events which can heavily impact radiation levels and thus significantly increase Single Event Effect rates:
"The sun on an eleven year cycle produces varying sizes of solar flares. These flares send out energetic particles that strike the earth and can affect the entire planet, but especially in the Polar Regions where the earth’s magnetic field is weakest. These particles can cause an increase in the radiation that an aircraft sees by a factor ranging from 10-1000X. The next projected solar peak where these levels could occur is 2011.“ (10)
In this context and with regard to the growing vulnerability of semiconductor technology, in this case in aircraft, the author explains that "using today’s parts could translate into a 10-20% processor failure rate during a single flight on an aircraft in northern latitudes during a moderate solar event“, thus calling into question the "ability of these products to perform as advertised“. He concludes that "for avionics suppliers, this has the potential to create an intolerable liability and field support issue. For the commercial and military end users, this can translate into types of aircraft that would operate with limited mission capabilities or flight restrictions in certain geographic locations and grounding during significant solar events.“ (11)
Considering the impact of sun activities and solar events on semiconductor technology, we can understand the growing importance of solar event 'forecasts'. In May 2009, a team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sponsored by NASA, has revised the earlier peak prediction from 2007 which foresaw a peak in 2011, and estimates that Solar Cycle number 24 will peak in May 2013 with an intensity expected to be below the average. According to NASA Science News, however,
"Even a below-average cycle is capable of producing severe space weather. ... The great geomagnetic storm of 1859, for instance, occurred during a solar cycle of about the same size we’re predicting for 2013. The 1859 storm -- known as the "Carrington Event" after astronomer Richard Carrington who witnessed the instigating solar flare -- electrified transmission cables, set fires in telegraph offices, and produced Northern Lights so bright that people could read newspapers by their red and green glow. A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences found that if a similar storm occurred today, it could cause $1 to 2 trillion in damages to society's high-tech infrastructure and require four to ten years for complete recovery." (12)
This is more than a good reason for a really big headache and for mobilizing the world's best scientists in order to research and develop methods capable of shielding modern electronics from the effects of atmospheric radiation! Ken Vranich's observations and subsequent warnings regarding the decreasing reliability of semiconductor technology in the realm of avionics have been discussed earlier by experts of the US military, who fear that world-wide military operations could be dramatically endangered by an increasing dependence on ever more sophisticated electronic devices.
In this sense, Major Scott W. Merkle, in a 1997 paper titled 'Non-Nuclear EMP: Automating the Military May Prove a Real Threat' and which addresses the man-made causes of Electromagnetic Pulses (EMP), first describes the catastrophic consequences that the 'classic' scenario of the detonation of a high-altitude nuclear bomb, for example above Nebraska, would have, whose electromagnetic pulse would render each and every computerized circuit in the continental United States, southern Canada and northern Mexico, useless. In describing the effects, Merkle cites a 1982 writing of no less a man than Edward Teller, regarding heavy electromagnetic pulse radiation:
"Today there is almost universal dependence on electronic computers. They are used by first-graders as well as research engineers. Industry, communications, financial records, are all at stake here. In the event of heavy EMP radiation, I suspect it would be easier to enumerate the apparatus that would continue to function than the apparatus that would stop.“ (13)
After revising the magnitude and probability of an EMP delivered by the detonation of a high-altitude nuclear bomb, which "could conceivably pulse us back to, shall we say, a simpler time when operations orders were done orally with a sandtable,“ Merkle proceeds to identify in general terms the threat coming from the development of advanced non-nuclear EMP weapons which, he observes, has started off a new arms race. (Although existent at the time, pulsed, directed energy beam weapons like HAARP systems are not explicitly mentioned in this paper). Considering the ever growing dependence of the United States' military on technological progress, Merkle regards the "pushing of the technology envelope" at all costs a serious problem, as "one burst of EMP" will render the most sophisticated equipment inoperable, stripping the high-tech infantry soldier of the 21st century naked and leaving him in the combat field without his "wondrous gadgets and gizmos“, to just name one example. Merkle thus concludes:
"Non-nuclear EMP has the potential to reduce the battlefield equation to very simple terms ... as the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System, All-Source Analysis System, and most other "high tech" intelligence connectivity systems will not be working.“ (14)
Finally and with regard to the same concern, an assessment of 'Electromagnetic Pulse Threats to U.S. Expeditionary Operations in 2010', written by US Air Force Major Colin R. Miller, comes to the conclusion that both, nuclear and non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse weapons "represent one of the most ominous threats to US National Security in the near term“. Miller subsequently suggests three types of counter-measures: Firstly, implementing specific protection or 'system-hardening' of semiconductor devices at the manufacturer level, secondly, individual shielding of crucial, high-tech components against EMP, and thirdly, shielding larger environments against EMP:
"Shielding the environment is a cost-effective solution for EMP protection when a large number of essential electronic devices are collocated. An Air Operations Center (AOC) provides a good example. Incorporating a grounded metallic shield into the building structure and surge protecting power, communications, and antenna lines could protect an entire AOC from EMP. Mobile systems require a different means, such as a Faraday cage, which can protect individual components. A Faraday cage is simply a metallic mesh built around an electronic circuit (such as a fighter aircraft flight control computer) that protects it from EMP." (15)
Given the magnitude and severity of the exponentially growing threat for omnipresent, modern semiconductor technology (and thus modern civilization as we have known it) from nuclear and non-nuclear electromagnetic pulses, from both, natural and man-made sources as shown and documented in the paragraphs above, and connecting back with Uwe Behnken's statement we've mentioned at the beginning and which upholds a direct relation between the injection of toxic particles into the stratosphere and the protection of semiconductor technologies, let us put the whole concept of 'Solar Radiation Management' or 'Solar Radiance Engineering' as recently proposed by climate scientists, into a different perspective.
Considering that the late Edward Teller, father of the Hydrogen Bomb and first-hand expert of the EMP effects that result upon their detonation in space, who in the late nineties and as mentioned earlier, doubted that global warming is anthropogenic (caused by humans) and who even questioned global warming as such, nevertheless suggested that the Earth needed a 'sunscreen', purpose for which he had a specific mixture of metals and chemicals developed at National Livermore Laboratories for the massive injection into the stratosphere to 'cool' the earth with a 'sheet of superfine, reflective mesh', the following questions / hypothesis arise for further, urgent investigation and research:
1. Is 'Solar Radiation Management' or 'Solar Radiance Engineering' -- supposedly designed to mitigate the effects of global warming -- a smokescreen for the general world public behind which another objective is being pursued, that has nothing to do with 'global warming'?
2. Has the massive blasting of metallic particles into the stratosphere been designed to create and uphold a permanent 'metallic shield' in the form of a 'superfine mesh' as suggested by Teller, to build the equivalent of a huge kind of 'Faraday Cage' over certain regions of the Earth in order to protect semiconductor technology from being rendered useless by major, natural or man-made, nuclear and/or non-nuclear, electromagnetic pulse events?
3. Is the bringing-out and upholding of this superfine mesh of metallic particles coupled with HAARP technologies, and if so, in which way?
4. Other than shielding technology, which military applications derive from a superfine mesh of metallic particles in the stratosphere, that have electrically-conductive properties?
5. Considering that until now the vast part of experimental injection of particles into the stratosphere seems to have taken place above NATO countries (16), could it be derived from this that NATO is actively-preemptively preparing for nuclear or non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse events?
6. Are we seeing version 2.0 of the Manhattan Project, this time entrusted with the mission to develop a large-scale shield to fend off the devastating effects of Electromagnetic Pulses, employing thousands of scientists, experts, technicians, military and civil personnel without them knowing what purpose they are working for, by keeping information deliberately fragmented and separate?
7. Is this the real reason why "geoengineering experiments shouldn't require global agreement" but be imposed on behalf of 'the advanced industrialized states of the world', as advocated by scholars of US Think Thanks that are not precisely known for their love for Mother Nature?
From the countries of the Global South, from Latin America, from Venezuela, we call for a global investigation into these matters, for a global debate and for global, transparent and informed agreement with regard to alternative ways to protect technology, the environment, all forms of life on the planet and planet Earth as such! We say NO to whatever techniques that, for whatever reason, deliberately modify any of the geophysical subsystems of the Earth! We say NO to interfering with planet Earth's geophysical integrity!
Notes
(1) http://blog.american.com/?p=11895
(2) Edward Teller, Roderick Hyde and Lowell Wood, Global Warming and Ice Ages: Prospects for Physics-Based Modulation of Global Change, August 1997, pages 10,11.
It's intriguing. Just barely a week after the Asilomar Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies had taken place in Pacific Grove, California, we heard honorable knights for the defense of global climate integrity, such as the American Enterprise Institute's Resident Fellow and Co director of the AEI Geoengineering Project Lee Lane, advocate a global imposition of geoengineering technologies on behalf of the advanced, industrialized states of the world in the firm conviction, that "geoengineering experiments shouldn't require global agreement“, because these would in any case be guided by the shining light of the government of the United States and its noble constitutional obligation to promote the welfare of the American people. This is how Lane evokes 'American national interest', this magic, self-sufficient concept that justifies the use of any means in order to obtain, that is, impose the desired objective. (1)
Why declare geoengineering experiments a matter of 'national interest' (read: national security interest)? Why not declare the wellbeing of the planetary climate and overall ecosystems a matter of national or planetary security interest for that matter, and subsequently demand the immediate discontinuance of irrational profit production and unbound consumerism, which got us into this mess in the first place? Why this sudden, violent interest in geoengineering experiments by scientists, international climate panels, United Nations entities, policy centers, research facilities, scientific communities and even Think Tanks with their scores of fellows and scholars? Why did we not see the same violent interest with regard to a binding commitment at the Rio, Kyoto or Copenhagen Earth Summits? And why call for the global imposition of geoengineering technologies on behalf of the 'advanced, more industrialized states' of the world?
Furthermore, if geoengineering experiments are all of a sudden being considered imperative, why does the so-called scientific community, as well as civil and military authorities in various countries of the world deny the fact that one of the proposed climate intervention techniques, pertaining to Solar Radiation Management, has already and progressively been implemented on a considerably large scale since years?
The hard facts on the ground – or in the sky, for that matter - don't go away by denying them. Solar Radiation Management by 'injection of sulfate or other materials into the stratosphere' as proposed by the working agenda of the past Asilomar Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies and as seen, photographed, filmed, documented, studied and analyzed during years by ordinary citizens, environmental activists, air traffic controllers, radar technicians, alternative journalists, meteorologists, chemists and physicians, has been occurring over North America and Europe since the nineties. The question is, if the massive blasting into the stratosphere of a mixture of metals and polymers to form a haze-like layer in the skies in order to deflect solar radiation is actually that good of an idea, given the extreme toxicity of the materials being sprayed and given the fact that they finally do come down back to the surface of the Earth. Thus, to a far-sighted, ecological, nature-preserving mind it seems utterly illogical to resort to this kind of measures which have a heavily contaminating effect on the overall environment - air, water, soils, humans, animals, plants, that is, life on the planet as such.
For the sake of (relative) brevity, we will not go into detail to describe and explain Chemtrail Spraying in this article, but instead encourage our readers to get active and do a thorough research on the Internet by themselves. Suffice it to say here, that the until now publicly denied operations of ongoing Chemtrail Spraying are, in fact, related to 'Solar Radiation Management', consisting of the massive injection of a combination of metallic and other particles - microscopic in scale - into the stratosphere. Interestingly and essential for us to note, it was the late Edward Teller, member of the Manhattan Project and father of the Hydrogen Bomb, co-founder and director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who proposed this geoengineering technique together with Roderick Hyde and Lowell Wood and who designed a variety of mixtures according to the specific tasks they have to perform, among which figure the deployment of "electrically-conducting sheets“ or "metallic 'nets' of ultra-fine mesh-spacing“ in the stratosphere. (2) Equally interesting is the fact, that Teller himself did not only doubt that society's carbon dioxide emissions were responsible for global warming, but questioned global warming as such, when stating in a 1997 article, titled 'The Planet needs a Sunscreen', that "It's wonderful to think that the world is so very wealthy that a single nation -- America -- can consider spending $100 billion a year on a problem that may not exist.“ (3) He explicitly repeated this doubt in a 2002 co-authored paper on 'Active Climate Stabilization.' (4) So, by all means, why then seriously bother about the research, development and actual deployment of 'geoengineering techniques' such as spraying the stratosphere with chemicals, in order to to 'fend off solar radiation' ?!
Considering the counter-productivity of the whole concept of 'solar radiation management' – deflecting solar radiation by creating a layer of highly toxic, artificial 'clouds' may as well block and trap outbound heat from the Earth and thus worsen 'global warming' – the question arises, why it is actually being done.
The very logics of global capitalism and capitalist globalization that dictates each and every consideration, each and every action undertaken by the transnational corporations of this world and their political and military executives on a national and international scale, and which impose their decisions on billions of people, indicates that Solar Radiation Management is NOT being conducted to 'mitigate the effects of global warming' but to address an immediate problem, as severe as that of global warming for the survival of human civilization as we have known it, and which can best be described as the Electronic Achilles Heel of Modern Civilization.
In a 2009 interview with Ludwig Glinz about 'Sferic Frequencies, Semiconductor Technologies and their effective Preservation and Protection', Uwe Behnken, founder of LiveNet Concept 2010 and long time activist against Chemtrail Spraying, suggests that the massive injection of toxic substances into the stratosphere ever since the nineties bears a direct relation to the protection of highly sensitive semiconductor technologies.
„[..] Natural electromagnetic pulses are known to everybody ever since the film 'The Day After' where we learnt what happens if these are created artificially by means of the explosion of an atom bomb. If an atomic weapon explodes, the electromagnetic pulse causes semiconductor technologies to stop functioning. The same electromagnetic pulses can be registered in the event of elevated sferic frequencies or nuclear electromagnetic pulses stemming from elevated sun activities, and from our perspective this is another reason why it is undertaken to repel these sferic frequencies with the help of toxic substances, like aluminium oxides and barium-chlorides so as to protect semiconductor technologies.“ (5)
For a better understanding of this statement and its consequences, we'll briefly examine some basic concepts related to semiconductor technology and the reasons for its growing vulnerability.
All modern technology is based on semiconductor technology, used in the production of microelectronic integrated circuits (microchips) on an ever more minute scale and with an ever greater number of in-built 'components' per unit, so to speak. No applied technology in our computerized age, be it in the realm of production, energy, communication, trading, finance, transportation, scientific research and development, space exploration and military operations, works without semiconductor technology. A semiconductor is a material like silicon or germanium (6) characterized by an "intermediate conductivity" which oscillates between that of a conductor and an insulator and which displays a rapid variation of conductivity depending on temperature. The current in semiconductors is either carried by the flow of electrons or by the flow of positively-charged "holes" in the electron structure of the material. An external electrical field may change a semiconductor's resistivity or 'behavior' for that matter. (7)
One of the problems related to semiconductor technology and as derived from some of its specific characteristics is, that upon exposure to various types of particles of atmospheric radiation - alpha particles, various ions, protons, and neutrons which can 'hit' the device - it can change state or alter its output, leading to an error. This phenomenon is widely known by the manufacturers and has been called 'Single Event Effect' (SEE), which, in turn, is classified in three basic categories: A soft error or 'single event upset' (SEU), a soft or hard error or 'single event latchup (SEL) and a hard failure or 'single event burnout' (SEB).
In the Atmospheric Radiation Effects Whitepaper, prepared by Ken Vranich in 2007, this author discusses the growing impact of atmospheric radiation effects on semiconductor devices, specifically the impact on avionics, identifying natural atmospheric radiation as the overriding cause of Single Event Effects or device failures due to the fact that semiconductor technology undergoes constant sophistication, which means it's being performed on an ever more minute scale. The scale we are talking about is so tiny that the collision of neutrons with the semiconductor material results in the deposition of a charge in this material and thus leads to an alteration of its state or even to the destruction of the device. The author explains these characteristic errors and failures of semiconductor devices as follows:
"Single event upset (SEU) is a condition that causes corruption of data or logic state in a device resulting in erroneous output. This is a soft error, meaning that data could be updated or corrected or the part reset and normal functionality would be resumed. ... Single event latchup (SEL) is a condition in some [type of semiconductors] where the energy deposited locally in a device by the single particle has turned on parasitic transistors causing high current through the device. ... This SEL usually causes loss of device functionality. ... Single event burnout (SEB) is a condition in a high voltage device (voltages of 500 or 600 volts) resulting from the energy deposition by a single particle leading to a feedback mechanism that exceeds the breakdown voltage and therefore destroys the device. ... Single Event Effects can also cause secondary breakdown in bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), resulting in burnout of the transistor ... “ (8)
The Atmospheric Radiation Effects Whitepaper deals essentially with the uncomfortable fact that the failure rate in semiconductor devices has been increasing exponentially due to the steady advancement of semiconductor technology, making them not only vulnerable to high-energy or fast neutrons, but also to low-energy or slow (thermal) neutrons. The author estimates that it will take years until the big manufacturers of integrated circuits will respond to this challenge and warns of the unprecedented consequences that this will have, in this case for aviation electronics, concerning both commercial as well as military avionics and which may lead to the severe limitation of operations or even grounding of aircraft, due to intolerably high processor failure rates. For a combination of technical factors which the author does not specify, he identifies the military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s), crucial in America's ongoing and future warfare operations around the planet, as the type of aircraft most vulnerable to this threat, mainly because they are composed of so called 'commercial-off-the-shelf equipment', leading to what the author says is an "unacceptably high probability of 'loss of command and control'“. (9)
As for the natural causes of atmospheric radiation and their effects on semiconductor devices, the author explains that the exposure to the range of potentially hazardous particles increases with growing latitude and altitude, especially during times of elevated sun activity. As far as the latter is concerned, the author stresses the importance of solar events which can heavily impact radiation levels and thus significantly increase Single Event Effect rates:
"The sun on an eleven year cycle produces varying sizes of solar flares. These flares send out energetic particles that strike the earth and can affect the entire planet, but especially in the Polar Regions where the earth’s magnetic field is weakest. These particles can cause an increase in the radiation that an aircraft sees by a factor ranging from 10-1000X. The next projected solar peak where these levels could occur is 2011.“ (10)
In this context and with regard to the growing vulnerability of semiconductor technology, in this case in aircraft, the author explains that "using today’s parts could translate into a 10-20% processor failure rate during a single flight on an aircraft in northern latitudes during a moderate solar event“, thus calling into question the "ability of these products to perform as advertised“. He concludes that "for avionics suppliers, this has the potential to create an intolerable liability and field support issue. For the commercial and military end users, this can translate into types of aircraft that would operate with limited mission capabilities or flight restrictions in certain geographic locations and grounding during significant solar events.“ (11)
Considering the impact of sun activities and solar events on semiconductor technology, we can understand the growing importance of solar event 'forecasts'. In May 2009, a team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sponsored by NASA, has revised the earlier peak prediction from 2007 which foresaw a peak in 2011, and estimates that Solar Cycle number 24 will peak in May 2013 with an intensity expected to be below the average. According to NASA Science News, however,
"Even a below-average cycle is capable of producing severe space weather. ... The great geomagnetic storm of 1859, for instance, occurred during a solar cycle of about the same size we’re predicting for 2013. The 1859 storm -- known as the "Carrington Event" after astronomer Richard Carrington who witnessed the instigating solar flare -- electrified transmission cables, set fires in telegraph offices, and produced Northern Lights so bright that people could read newspapers by their red and green glow. A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences found that if a similar storm occurred today, it could cause $1 to 2 trillion in damages to society's high-tech infrastructure and require four to ten years for complete recovery." (12)
This is more than a good reason for a really big headache and for mobilizing the world's best scientists in order to research and develop methods capable of shielding modern electronics from the effects of atmospheric radiation! Ken Vranich's observations and subsequent warnings regarding the decreasing reliability of semiconductor technology in the realm of avionics have been discussed earlier by experts of the US military, who fear that world-wide military operations could be dramatically endangered by an increasing dependence on ever more sophisticated electronic devices.
In this sense, Major Scott W. Merkle, in a 1997 paper titled 'Non-Nuclear EMP: Automating the Military May Prove a Real Threat' and which addresses the man-made causes of Electromagnetic Pulses (EMP), first describes the catastrophic consequences that the 'classic' scenario of the detonation of a high-altitude nuclear bomb, for example above Nebraska, would have, whose electromagnetic pulse would render each and every computerized circuit in the continental United States, southern Canada and northern Mexico, useless. In describing the effects, Merkle cites a 1982 writing of no less a man than Edward Teller, regarding heavy electromagnetic pulse radiation:
"Today there is almost universal dependence on electronic computers. They are used by first-graders as well as research engineers. Industry, communications, financial records, are all at stake here. In the event of heavy EMP radiation, I suspect it would be easier to enumerate the apparatus that would continue to function than the apparatus that would stop.“ (13)
After revising the magnitude and probability of an EMP delivered by the detonation of a high-altitude nuclear bomb, which "could conceivably pulse us back to, shall we say, a simpler time when operations orders were done orally with a sandtable,“ Merkle proceeds to identify in general terms the threat coming from the development of advanced non-nuclear EMP weapons which, he observes, has started off a new arms race. (Although existent at the time, pulsed, directed energy beam weapons like HAARP systems are not explicitly mentioned in this paper). Considering the ever growing dependence of the United States' military on technological progress, Merkle regards the "pushing of the technology envelope" at all costs a serious problem, as "one burst of EMP" will render the most sophisticated equipment inoperable, stripping the high-tech infantry soldier of the 21st century naked and leaving him in the combat field without his "wondrous gadgets and gizmos“, to just name one example. Merkle thus concludes:
"Non-nuclear EMP has the potential to reduce the battlefield equation to very simple terms ... as the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System, All-Source Analysis System, and most other "high tech" intelligence connectivity systems will not be working.“ (14)
Finally and with regard to the same concern, an assessment of 'Electromagnetic Pulse Threats to U.S. Expeditionary Operations in 2010', written by US Air Force Major Colin R. Miller, comes to the conclusion that both, nuclear and non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse weapons "represent one of the most ominous threats to US National Security in the near term“. Miller subsequently suggests three types of counter-measures: Firstly, implementing specific protection or 'system-hardening' of semiconductor devices at the manufacturer level, secondly, individual shielding of crucial, high-tech components against EMP, and thirdly, shielding larger environments against EMP:
"Shielding the environment is a cost-effective solution for EMP protection when a large number of essential electronic devices are collocated. An Air Operations Center (AOC) provides a good example. Incorporating a grounded metallic shield into the building structure and surge protecting power, communications, and antenna lines could protect an entire AOC from EMP. Mobile systems require a different means, such as a Faraday cage, which can protect individual components. A Faraday cage is simply a metallic mesh built around an electronic circuit (such as a fighter aircraft flight control computer) that protects it from EMP." (15)
Given the magnitude and severity of the exponentially growing threat for omnipresent, modern semiconductor technology (and thus modern civilization as we have known it) from nuclear and non-nuclear electromagnetic pulses, from both, natural and man-made sources as shown and documented in the paragraphs above, and connecting back with Uwe Behnken's statement we've mentioned at the beginning and which upholds a direct relation between the injection of toxic particles into the stratosphere and the protection of semiconductor technologies, let us put the whole concept of 'Solar Radiation Management' or 'Solar Radiance Engineering' as recently proposed by climate scientists, into a different perspective.
Considering that the late Edward Teller, father of the Hydrogen Bomb and first-hand expert of the EMP effects that result upon their detonation in space, who in the late nineties and as mentioned earlier, doubted that global warming is anthropogenic (caused by humans) and who even questioned global warming as such, nevertheless suggested that the Earth needed a 'sunscreen', purpose for which he had a specific mixture of metals and chemicals developed at National Livermore Laboratories for the massive injection into the stratosphere to 'cool' the earth with a 'sheet of superfine, reflective mesh', the following questions / hypothesis arise for further, urgent investigation and research:
1. Is 'Solar Radiation Management' or 'Solar Radiance Engineering' -- supposedly designed to mitigate the effects of global warming -- a smokescreen for the general world public behind which another objective is being pursued, that has nothing to do with 'global warming'?
2. Has the massive blasting of metallic particles into the stratosphere been designed to create and uphold a permanent 'metallic shield' in the form of a 'superfine mesh' as suggested by Teller, to build the equivalent of a huge kind of 'Faraday Cage' over certain regions of the Earth in order to protect semiconductor technology from being rendered useless by major, natural or man-made, nuclear and/or non-nuclear, electromagnetic pulse events?
3. Is the bringing-out and upholding of this superfine mesh of metallic particles coupled with HAARP technologies, and if so, in which way?
4. Other than shielding technology, which military applications derive from a superfine mesh of metallic particles in the stratosphere, that have electrically-conductive properties?
5. Considering that until now the vast part of experimental injection of particles into the stratosphere seems to have taken place above NATO countries (16), could it be derived from this that NATO is actively-preemptively preparing for nuclear or non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse events?
6. Are we seeing version 2.0 of the Manhattan Project, this time entrusted with the mission to develop a large-scale shield to fend off the devastating effects of Electromagnetic Pulses, employing thousands of scientists, experts, technicians, military and civil personnel without them knowing what purpose they are working for, by keeping information deliberately fragmented and separate?
7. Is this the real reason why "geoengineering experiments shouldn't require global agreement" but be imposed on behalf of 'the advanced industrialized states of the world', as advocated by scholars of US Think Thanks that are not precisely known for their love for Mother Nature?
From the countries of the Global South, from Latin America, from Venezuela, we call for a global investigation into these matters, for a global debate and for global, transparent and informed agreement with regard to alternative ways to protect technology, the environment, all forms of life on the planet and planet Earth as such! We say NO to whatever techniques that, for whatever reason, deliberately modify any of the geophysical subsystems of the Earth! We say NO to interfering with planet Earth's geophysical integrity!
Notes
(1) http://blog.american.com/?p=11895
(2) Edward Teller, Roderick Hyde and Lowell Wood, Global Warming and Ice Ages: Prospects for Physics-Based Modulation of Global Change, August 1997, pages 10,11.
http://www.rense.com/general18/scatteringEdTellerwithnotes.pdf
(3) E. Teller, The Planet needs a Sunscreen, reprinted by Hoover Digest,
(3) E. Teller, The Planet needs a Sunscreen, reprinted by Hoover Digest,
http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3522851.html
(4) Edward Teller, Roderick Hyde and Lowell Wood: Active Climate Stabilization: Practical Physics-Based Approaches to Prevention of Climate Change, April 2002, page 6,
(4) Edward Teller, Roderick Hyde and Lowell Wood: Active Climate Stabilization: Practical Physics-Based Approaches to Prevention of Climate Change, April 2002, page 6,
https://e-reports-ext.llnl.gov/pdf/244671.pdf
(5) http://www.lnc-2010.de/Linkpool/Sfericstandard.wmv
(6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_materials
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor
(8) Ken Vranich, The Growing Impact of Atmospheric Radiation Effects on Semiconductor Devices and the Associated Impact on Avionics Suppliers,
http://www.kva-engineering.com/pdf/SEU_whitepaper_FAA_Con.pdf, our emphasis.
(9) Ibidem, pages 1, 2.
(10) Ibidem, page 3, our emphasis.
(11) Ibidem, page 8.
(12) http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/29may_noaaprediction/
(13) Major Scott W. Merkle, Non-Nuclear EMP: Automating the Military May Prove a Real Threat, http://cryptome.quintessenz.at/mirror/emp-merkle.htm, our emphasis.
(14) Ibidem, our emphasis.
(15) Major Colin R. Miller (USAF), Electromagnetic Pulse Threats to U.S. Expeditionary Operations in 2010, http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cst/bugs_ch12.pdf, our emphasis.
(16) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJPS9vo1pB8&feature=related
(5) http://www.lnc-2010.de/Linkpool/Sfericstandard.wmv
(6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_materials
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor
(8) Ken Vranich, The Growing Impact of Atmospheric Radiation Effects on Semiconductor Devices and the Associated Impact on Avionics Suppliers,
http://www.kva-engineering.com/pdf/SEU_whitepaper_FAA_Con.pdf, our emphasis.
(9) Ibidem, pages 1, 2.
(10) Ibidem, page 3, our emphasis.
(11) Ibidem, page 8.
(12) http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/29may_noaaprediction/
(13) Major Scott W. Merkle, Non-Nuclear EMP: Automating the Military May Prove a Real Threat, http://cryptome.quintessenz.at/mirror/emp-merkle.htm, our emphasis.
(14) Ibidem, our emphasis.
(15) Major Colin R. Miller (USAF), Electromagnetic Pulse Threats to U.S. Expeditionary Operations in 2010, http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cst/bugs_ch12.pdf, our emphasis.
(16) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJPS9vo1pB8&feature=related
