High Altitude Research Program (HARP)

The High Altitude Research Project (HARP) was a scientific initiative in the 1960s and 1970s, primarily focused on studying how high-altitude explosions and sound waves behave to better understand the Earth's atmosphere and improve missile detection and tracking. It involved launching powerful detonation experiments from a site in Canada, generating shockwaves that traveled into the upper atmosphere. These experiments provided valuable data for atmospheric science and missile defense research, employing large sonic sources to analyze atmospheric conditions. HARP helped advance our understanding of high-altitude physics and was a collaboration involving NASA and the U.S. Air Force.