Value chain · CLM-0030
In plain terms
A 2026 search found no test of the effect at the frequency space solar power would use. The facilities that can heat the ionosphere work at radio frequencies a thousand times lower.
The claim as recorded
A 2026 literature survey found no experiment that has measured thermal self-focusing instability or D-region thermal runaway at 2.45 GHz; the ionospheric heating facilities that have measured electron temperature enhancements consistent with self-focusing - HAARP, EISCAT, Arecibo and SURA - all operate at HF, roughly 2 to 10 MHz, three orders of magnitude below the beaming frequency.
Scope and limits
A negative finding from one survey. It establishes that no such experiment was found, not that none exists. The frequency scaling of the threshold has not been computed here, so whether HF results transfer to GHz is a separate open question and is not settled by this claim. CORROBORATED 2026-09-06 by SCN-004, on a NARROWER search mode than the original. Five queries across Crossref and NTRS for any MEASURED thermal self-focusing or D-region thermal runaway result at 2.45 GHz returned none: every top-ranked result is theory, modelling or an HF facility observation - Keskinen and Basu 2003, Guzdar 1998 and 1996, Sodha 2007, a 1999 HF self-focusing evidence report, a 2008 HAARP winter campaign report, 2010 Sura turbulence. All HF. The scan ran without OpenAlex, whose budget is exhausted, and without WebSearch, so it is a narrower mode than the pass it corroborates and the agreement is worth less than a like-for-like repeat would be.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
Established by literature survey 2026-09-02 across the named facilities. Recorded as a searched-and-not-found result, not an assumption.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-009 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0030
CLM-0030, Energy Aperture, as of 2026-09.