Needles (Project West Ford)

[Leventis]

In the book this is being refered has anyone found the link to the article that refers to this passage?

'If certain of the leaders who read your book don ‘t believe you, or doubt what is written, challenge them to explain the disappearance of billions of ‘needles’ put into orbit around Earth1 several years ago. Ask them also to explain the second disappearance of billions more ‘needles’ again put into orbit. They will know what you are referring to, never fear. We are responsible for the disappearance of these ‘needles’, judging them to be potentially disastrous for your planet. (Does anyone have a link to this article?)

Thank you.

[Kestrel]

Yeah, I'de love to know myself. I searched a littel big didn't have any luck a while ago.

[Zark]

hi leventis,
Tom Chalko has covered this, here is his answer:

from: http://www.thiaoouba.com/faq.htm
Q. What do you know about the needles, which the people from Thiaoouba have removed twice from their orbit around Earth ?
A. There are some huge installations in Alaska, capable of sending microwave and other radiation into space for military purposes - communication as well as direct weapons. Using them, it is possible to create nuclear-like (neutron beam) high intensity radiation without actually exploding a bomb. Needles in space were supposed to reflect this radiation to a specified target. (I have read some info about it a few years ago, before I read The Book. [Tom])

Scientific American, August 1998 (Vol 279, Number 2, article by N.L.Johnson, Page 43, (63 in US edition?!)) explains :

"80 clumps of needles (were) released in May 1963 as part of a US Department of Defense telecommunication experiment. The radiation pressure exerted by sunlight (???) was to have pushed the tiny needles - all 400 million of them - out of orbit ..."

Show me anything else in the Universe that has been pushed out of orbit by the "pressure of sunlight". Why do we use rockets then? Even if one needle is only 0.1 gram - 400 million of them is 40 tonnes !!! I challenge every scientist on Earth to explain how "the pressure of sunlight" can displace 40 tonnes of metal.

The removal of the needles was an intelligent intervention, demonstrating unsurpassed technological possibilities of the people of Thiaoouba. What do you do if your kids play with matches in their room?

[Leventis]

August Magasine:
http://www.sciamdigital.com/browse.cfm?sequencenameCHAR=item&
methodnameCHAR=resource_getitembrowse&interfacenameCHAR=browse.cfm
&ISSUEID_CHAR=639198AF-0E70-4121-9F4C-465C7C35B05

I think this is the article:
http://www.sciamdigital.com/browse.cfm?ITEMIDCHAR=598D4801-6D9A-4A8D-
8EEB-22D73ED6DD0&methodnameCHAR=&interfacenameCHAR=browse.cfm&IS
SUEID_CHAR=639198AF-0E70-4121-9F4C-465C7C35B05&ArticleTypeSubInclud
e_BIT=0&sequencenameCHAR=itemP


You have to pay those bastards!! :'(

Modified by Bastian: changed the URL as it messed up browser formatting

[Zark]

You have to pay those bastards!! :'(

Yeah, its US$7.95 to read that issue of the magazine.
Should be able to get it free in a university libraries periodical section..
I live pretty close to one too

[trumpet_is_cool]

I discovered a couple of sites related to the needles !
It has todo with the ARGUS / HAARP Project (use google):

1958


Project Argus


Between August and September 1958, the US Navy exploded three fission type nuclear bombs 480 km above the South Atlantic Ocean, in the part of the lower Van Allen Belt closest to the earth's surface. In addition, two hydrogen bombs were detonated 160 km over Johnston Island in the Pacific. The military called this "the biggest scientific experiment ever undertaken." It was designed by the US Department of Defense and the US Atomic Energy Commission, under the code name Project Argus. The purpose appears to be to assess the impact of high altitude nuclear explosions on radio transmission and radar operations because of the electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and to increase understanding of the geomagnetic field and the behavior of the charged particles in it.


This gigantic experiment created new (inner) magnetic radiation belts encompassing almost the whole earth, and injected sufficient electrons and other energetic particles into the ionosphere to cause world wide effects. The electrons traveled back and forth along magnetic force lines, causing an artificial "aurora" when striking the atmosphere near the North Pole.


The US Military planned to create a "telecommunications shield" in the ionosphere, reported in 13-20 August 1961, Keesings Historisch Archief (K.H.A.). This shield would be created "in the ionosphere at 3,000 km height, by bringing into orbit 350,000 million copper needles, each 2-4 cm long [total weight 16 kg], forming a belt 10 km thick and 40 km wide, the needles spaced about 100 m apart." This was designed to replace the ionosphere "because telecommunications are impaired by magnetic storms and solar flares." The US planned to add to the number of copper needles if the experiment proved to be successful. This plan was strongly opposed by the International Union of Astronomers.

[Vesko]

Thank you very much, Trumpet_is_cool! Now we know what was the function of those needles!

After some searching, I couldn't find any references to the disappearance of the needles or failure, only noted in the above article excerpt the sentence "The US planned to add to the number of copper needles if the experiment proved to be successful."

Realted horrifying developments in more recent times ('90's): "HAARP: Vandalism in the Sky" (1995), http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/haarp.html.

Big thanks once again!!!

[trumpet_is_cool]

I found also a German Student who wrotes his graduatework about telecommunication...

He wrotes very detailed about the Project Needles (There are some Projektnames for the same thing) after researches at various Sources (NASA etc...).So the "official" Story about this in a short Review :

It is commonly known that you can do radiocommunication over a long distance if the Ionosphere has certain conditions. This conditions are unstable. So they got the Idea: "Let`s put Antennas (Dipols) in the Ionosphere", this are the small copper Needles. They have to have a special orientation to get the desired effect. They build a dispenser for the Needles and placed it with one of the Apollo Missions in the Space. They say that they had troubles with the dispenser at the first attempt, the Needles build clumps...They didn`t disappeared, many of the clumps are still in space (found at some astronomy sites). So they shoot with one of the next Apollo Missions a modified Dispenser in Space, they say it worked and they putted the needles as planned in the Ionosphere but didn`t got the desired effect (better communication).

They then stopped the project as "successfull finished" and started to develop Satellites for Communication purposes...

However this is a summary of the official Version You find quite a lot if you google around, it`s not easy to find but who seeks will find

[Vesko]

Thank you! Indeed, with disappearances, the last thing officials must have wanted is to announce them as such .

It would be good if you gave that German student the credit here by supplying a link to the page you found.

I found another name for the project, in addition to "Project Needles", is "Project Westford" or "Project West Ford" and the needles are called "Westford needles" and "West Ford needles".

[trumpet_is_cool]

Here is the link, it is in German but there are some sketches of the needles etc...Have a look !

http://www.ilr.ing.tu-bs.de/dasinstitut ... LRTUBS.pdf

The Dispenser :
http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/midas-3.htm

P.S. I`m sorry, it was not one of the Apollo missions (see the skyrocket page) It is quite a while back where i did my researches about the needles, sorry for this confusing Information !

[Zark]

thanks for the link trumpet I got this quote from one of your pages - it even has a picture of the dispenser

from http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/westford.htm

The West Ford needles project was an experiment to allow long distance communications by bouncing radio waves off of a band small wires (passive dipoles) cut to a specific length. In an attempt to lay a radio-reflective ring around the world, small metal dipole needs were allowed to sublimate out of a matrix. Two experiments were conducted, one in 1961 and another in 1963. The 1961 experiment was not successful when the needles failed to sufficiently disperse. The 1963 experiment was successful.

The West Ford reflector consisted of 480 million copper dipoles. The length was chosen to correspond to a half wavelength of the 8-GHz transmission frequencies used in the program. Other West Ford details are as follows:

The experiment was greatly criticized by astronomers who feared optical and radio pollution. However the needles apparently didn't work as a radio reflector and the feared and desired effects did not come to pass.

[ixohoxi]

[Moderator note (VeskoP): This post and the next one (by InfoSource) have been moved from another topic). Date of action 2006-08-21]

I found this article on the net..

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=516

What do you think?

[InfoSource]

The link has more information on the needles that TP was talking about that I've seen on the net

Some of the facts from the website contradict want was said in TP, namely the number of needles involved (millions as opposed to billions) and the reason why the project was cancelled (scientists opposition to the project as opposed to Thiaoouban intervention)

However, it may not have been the opposition from prominent scientists that finally killed Project West Ford's dream. By 1963, communications satellite technology had become more and more capable. Compared to those sleek products of Space Age technology, the relatively low-tech West Ford dipole cloud was an unsightly dinosaur. However, the West Ford engineers remained convinced of the feasibility of their endeavour, and largely blamed the end of the program on the opposing scientists rather than flaws in their own technology.

[bhuvan]

Hi All

To claimed that the needles were clumped and put in a higher orbit. Any evidence for this?

One of the link I got is this

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=516

But here it is claimed that the needles are in the same orbit, but not everything is present there. But also mentions that the needles are put to come back and the remaining might be fallen in antartica.

Any good links that can support Tom's claim?

[Matt]

The released information doesn't completely correlate with TP... however, it is interesting to note that the information TP announced was declassified a few years after the book was published.

Quite a dilemma, eh?