Value chain · CLM-0065
In plain terms
A Raytheon study eight months earlier, by the same authors as the lost memorandum, gave a critical power of 15 milliwatts per square centimetre, said irregularities were possible above 20, and gave a strong likelihood of significant disturbance above 50 to 70.
The claim as recorded
A March 1977 Raytheon study, whose ionospheric effects chapter was directed by A. H. Katz with L. Holway and G. Meltz participating - the same three authors as the untraceable Raytheon memorandum T-1028 - gives a critical power of 15 mW/cm2 at 2450 MHz at 60 km, defined as the level above which two of its loss terms alone cannot keep the electron temperature stable; states that above 20 mW/cm2 there is a possibility of causing irregularities and above 50 to 70 mW/cm2 a strong likelihood of significant ionospheric perturbations; and gives a top-level threshold, where ionospheric modifications become significant, as low as 15 mW/cm2, with increased risk above about 50 mW/cm2.
Scope and limits
A substitute for reference 30, not reference 30 itself. The assumption above is reasonable but unproven, and T-1028 may differ. The 15 mW/cm2 critical power is not a runaway threshold: the word does not occur in the document, and the source defines the figure with two of four loss terms only. The 20 mW/cm2 figure concerns possible irregularities, not self-focusing, for which the document gives no number.
What it assumes
that this document's ionospheric chapter substantially reflects the content of the untraceable T-1028, given identical authors, subject and an eight-month interval
Where it comes from
NASA-CR-150296, obtained. Author attribution read from the document: chapter "directed by A. H. Katz" with "L. Holway and G. Meltz" participating. Locators: foreword PDF p4 (printed ii); key result 3, PDF p21 (printed 2-7); critical power, PDF p42 (printed 2-30), "For 2450 MHz at 60 k[m], the critical power is 15 mW/cm2"; irregularities, PDF p68 (printed 2-56), "at power densities above 20 mW/cm2 there is a possibility of causing irregularities, and at power densities above 50 to 70 mW/cm2 there is a strong likelihood of producing significant ionospheric perturbations". Conversions: 15 mW/cm2 = 150 W/m2; 20 mW/cm2 = 200 W/m2; 50 mW/cm2 = 500 W/m2.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-010 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0065
CLM-0065, Energy Aperture, as of 1977-03.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.