NASA explores the "electric ocean," a concept that Nikola Tesla once dreamed of penetrating.

Americans are turning the bold ideas of Nikola Tesla into reality. They are literally reaching into the ocean of cosmic electricity that swirls above us. The Ezie mission, featuring three satellites flying in sequence, aims to assess the "energy reserves" by passing as close as possible to the area of electrical madness. The project is overseen by NASA, and the satellites are set to launch in March, notably from a military airfield.

ABYSS OF ELECTRICITY

In the late 19th century, Nikola Tesla perceived a realm of colossal energies and vibrations beneath the tranquil, star-studded dome of the sky. How he discerned this is beyond comprehension, given that the only known form of natural electricity at the time was lightning and storms.

Later (but still during Tesla's lifetime), the ionosphere was discovered. This layer of charged particles exists at altitudes ranging from 50 to 1000 kilometers (the ionosphere has various zones, and their heights constantly change). The voltage between the Earth and the ionosphere is approximately 250,000 volts. Tesla's plan was to "bring the sky to the Earth," somehow connecting the ionosphere and the surface of our planet, saturating the Earth with electricity, and tapping into free energy from any point where it was needed, simply by plugging into the ground. Perhaps, in this form, the plan is unrealistic, but maybe in some other form it could work?

We still do not fully understand how everything operates above us. For instance, during auroras, the ionosphere becomes active, creating currents of up to a million amperes (for comparison, one ampere from a short circuit of a battery can ignite a flame). These currents are the cause of the notorious magnetic storms, as magnetism and electricity, as we remember from school physics, are two sides of the same coin.

Studying these electric streams is quite challenging. They are too low for satellites and too high for balloons and aircraft. NASA engineers devised a clever way to "get in there."

Nikola Tesla

"THIS IS A BREAKTHROUGH"

The Ezie project consists of three satellites, each the size of a small suitcase. Their orbit runs over the poles, positioned at an altitude of 550 kilometers. The satellites will follow one another in such a way as to intercept the baton and keep interesting areas in sight.

Right below them, at an altitude of 100 kilometers, an electric spectacle unfolds, with atmospheric currents flowing. But how will the satellites study all this when there is still about 400 km between the subject and the object? At such a distance, you can't immerse measuring instrument probes.

The researchers utilized a very interesting effect. Oxygen, when in the vicinity of electric fields, is expected to emit (but whether it does or not - see below) a narrow spectral line in the microwave range (118 gigahertz). This is what the satellites will be detecting. The nuance is that in a strong magnetic field, this line should split (the Zeeman effect). Thus, by simply studying the radiation of oxygen, one can accurately determine the intensity of the magnetic field. This is the method astronomers use to study the magnetic fields of the Sun, even though it is 150 million kilometers away from us.

- This is a unique methodology, - says mission team member Larry Kepko.

However, in today's world, new things rarely emerge, and the scientific foundation of the Ezie mission is no exception. Similar devices have long been created for studying the Earth's weather. Engineers have lightened the equipment's weight so that it fits into the satellites, and that's all.

RESULT IS DOUBTFUL

Russian scientists are studying the opposite range of radio waves (auroral kilometer radio emission), said Dr. Igor Krasheninnikov, a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences and a researcher at IZMIRAN, to KP.RU.

- It has long been expected that auroras emit not only optical light (which we see) but also very long radio waves. The solar wind, carrying energy, transfers it to the medium, where oscillations are excited. However, "long" radiation does not reach the surface of the Earth; it is trapped by the ionosphere, which is why it is studied from satellites. Such long-wavelength radio emissions are detected during significant disturbances when a kind of window forms inside the auroral oval (the "ring" of the aurora - KP), - says Igor Krasheninnikov.

It was assumed that emissions could occur not only at very long wavelengths but also at very short, megahertz wavelengths, which is precisely what the American experiment is targeting. Here, we might be talking about very subtle effects, at the level of atomic and molecular vibrations. However, the phenomenon turned out to be very "fragile," the scientist explains; it is explosive in nature and lasts at most a minute. Whether there is even a shortwave component, for which NASA launched its project, remains a significant question.

- Let's wait for the results. If they record it, they'll be great, and we'll congratulate them, - says Igor Krasheninnikov.

He urges not to pay attention to the superlatives that accompany the launch of new projects: this is quite common. Tell an official that "we are developing something that no one has done before," and the success of your endeavor is assured, says the Russian researcher.

The Ezie project has nothing to do with Nikola Tesla's ideas, Igor Krasheninnikov states:

- In Tesla's time, there was no knowledge like we have now, and his projects seemed reasonable. Today we understand that transmitting energy in the way he intended is impossible. Energy is transmitted only through electromagnetic oscillations, such as radio waves. Tesla's experiments remain in history.

But do not think that everything in the ionosphere is "clear" - quite the opposite. It is a very complex medium that is incredibly difficult to study.

- Under Earth's conditions, much is clearer. For example, we have thunderstorms that produce radio waves from kilohertz to megahertz, across a wide range. However, when we observe some radiation in the ionosphere, we do not always understand why it has emerged there? – says the researcher, - There are no lightning strikes in auroras, for instance, and much of what occurs there remains a mystery.