New Management: HAARP again open for business

Instead of falling to the dozer blade, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program has new life.

In mid-August, U.S. Air Force General Tom Masiello shook hands with UAF's Brian Rogers and Bob McCoy, transferring the powerful upper-atmosphere research facility from the military to the university.

You may have heard of HAARP.

Nick Begich wrote a book about it. Jesse Ventura tried to bully his way past the Gakona gate during a TV episode of Conspiracy Theory. Muse recorded a live album, HAARP, at Wembley Stadium from a stage filled with antennas meant to resemble those standing on a gravel pad off the Tok Cutoff Road.

The science-fiction assertions of caribou walking backwards, human mind control and HAARP's ability to change the weather have made researchers wince. It's hard to describe a complicated instrument that sends invisible energy into a zone no one can see.