Value chain · CLM-0043
In plain terms
The study the 1978 reference system cites put the level where the beam may start to disturb the ionosphere at about 20 milliwatts per square centimetre. A July 1978 follow-up predicted 12, give or take a factor of two, for runaway heating, and noted the beam affects the ionosphere less at the higher frequency.
The claim as recorded
Reference 26 of the 1978 Reference System is Duncan, L. M. and Gordon, W. E., "Ionosphere/Microwave Beam Interaction Study", Rice University, contract NAS9-15212, September 1977, whose abstract confirms 20 mW/cm2 as the level for nonlinear interactions at about 100 km with no stated band; the 12 mW/cm2 within a factor of two, and the note that interaction is less at 5800 MHz, are the abstract of its July 1978 successor (SRC-108, CR-151821).
Scope and limits
Read from the catalogued abstract, not the full report. CORRECTED 2026-09-13: THE FULL REPORT IS HELD. This limit previously described SRC-094 as unobtained. The report has been in the archive under SRC-108 since 2026-09-02, 66 pages, and SRC-094 is now withdrawn as a duplicate of it. What still limits this claim is that the 12 mW/cm2 threshold above was read from the catalogued abstract and has NOT been checked against the report body. A DATE DISCREPANCY IS OPEN: this claim reports reference 26 as September 1977 and the held title page reads July 1978; the DOE/ER-0023 reference list has not been re-read to see which of the two the discrepancy belongs to. MISATTRIBUTION FOUND 2026-09-19: reference 26 (September 1977, NASA-CR-151517, N77-33389) is now held as SRC-587 and predicts approximately 20 mW/cm2 for runaway with no band, scaled from a 15 MHz, 1 MW Arecibo experiment (its PDF p.12 / 3-3); the 12 mW/cm2 "within a factor of two" above is the July 1978 successor's abstract and body (SRC-108 PDF pp.4, 8, 18, 19, 20), derived from the report's own equations, with the report's own direction, an underestimate of the true threshold. The date discrepancy closes the same way: reference 26 is the 1977 report and the held SRC-108 is its successor, so "whose abstract" above is the 1978 abstract; asof 1977-09 applies to the cited report and 1978-07 to the 12. A successor record should say which document says what (CLM-1094, SRC-587, 2026-09-19).
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF 3: "20 mW/cm2 is confirmed as the level where nonlinear interactions may occur"; SRC-108 PDF 4: "within a factor of two" and the 12 mW/cm2 at 2450 MHz. Modelled, not measured.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-009 not published in this releaseQST-010 not published in this release
- Supersedes
- CLM-0029 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0043
CLM-0043, Energy Aperture, as of 1977-09 (SRC-587, reference 26); 1978-07 (SRC-108, the 12 mW/cm2).
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-108
- CLM-0045The apparent conflict between 12 and 23 was not an error. The underlying study gave a range, and the figure adopted sits near the top of it.CLM-0066The figure adopted in 1978 was higher than each of the lower figures in the studies it cited, though those figures were themselves...CLM-0072The 1978 study gives 12 milliwatts per square centimetre for runaway, give or take a factor of two, and says no threshold can be set in the...CLM-0082The formula is the right one for the conditions space solar power would create. It was written for this case, not borrowed from a different...CLM-0083The formula is the right type but nobody has said how far it can be pushed, and at space solar power frequencies the wave is about 200...CLM-0085The 1978 formula does not give a threshold. It relates threshold power to the width of the plasma structures produced, so getting a single...CLM-0101The 1978 contract required the researchers to report fixes if ionospheric disturbance pushed the pilot-beam phase error past 2 to 3...CLM-0132A 1978 NASA-funded study calculated that a beam of about 12 milliwatts per square centimetre at 2.45 GHz would be the point where the...More on the source page.
- Also from SRC-587
- CLM-0045The apparent conflict between 12 and 23 was not an error. The underlying study gave a range, and the figure adopted sits near the top of it.CLM-1094The 1978 Rice report the archive holds is the follow-on to the 1977 one that the reference system cites, and the 1977 report, obtained the...