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Die Wolkenphotographie in Der Wettermanipulation Zu Räumen Militärisch-Industrieller Unsicherheit

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Die Wolkenphotographie in Der Wettermanipulation Zu Räumen Militärisch-Industrieller Unsicherheit NADINE TAHA Die Wolkenphotographie in der Wettermanipulation Zu Räumen militärisch-industrieller Unsicherheit 1. Industriell-militärische Wettermanipulation° Die Unberechenbarkeit von Wetterbedingungen wurde schon immer als eine überaus wirkmächtige Variable in militärischen Operationen angesehen. Win- ter, Stürme oder Schlamm galten als Verbündete oder Kontrahenten und konn- ten den Ausgang von militärischen Kon£¹ikten entscheidend beein£¹ussen. Die Absicht, den Unberechenbarkeiten atmosphärischer Gewalten entgegenzuwir- ken, mobilisierte insbesondere im 20. Jahrhundert eine Investitions- und Inno- vationsbereitschaft, die in diverse Institutionalisierungen von Militär, Naturwis- senschaften und Ingenieurswissenschaften mündete. Die Entwicklung einer solchen Institutionalisierung soll im Folgenden anhand einer Fallstudie über die Zusammenarbeit zwischen General Electric und diversen US-amerikani- schen Militärorganisationen untersucht werden. Bereits während des Zweiten Weltkrieges befasste sich die Industrieforschung von General Electric mit Technologien, die Wetterphänomene erzeugten. So be- auftragte etwa das US-amerikanische Militär im Jahre 1941 das Unternehmen mit der Konstruktion eines Nebelgenerators. Vorbildfunktion besaß dabei eine Apparatur, welche das Schlachtschif Bismarck der deutschen Kriegsmarine in künstlichem Nebel verschwinden ließ und damit für gegnerische Kamp£¹ug- zeuge unlokalisierbar machte. Die Industrieforscher nahmen sich der Aufgabe an, einen ähnlich efektvollen Generator zu entwickeln, mit dem man ganze Städte und Truppen in Nebelbanken einhüllen konnte.´ Für den National De- fense Reasearch Council, Chemical Warfare Service und die U.S. Air Force unter- suchten sie in der Kriegszeit zudem Nebelschleier, die Vereisung von Flugzeugen und den elektrostatischen Niederschlag bei Stürmen, welcher den Funkkontakt von Flugzeugen störte.µ ° Einige der in diesem Aufsatz verwendeten historischen Materialien stammen aus Archiven, die Sammlungen des US-amerikanischen Unternehmens General Electric besitzen: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Manuscript Division; Museum of Innovation and Science, Schenectady; University at Albany, Albany, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collec- tions and Archives. ´ Vgl. Vincent Schaefer, Final Report Project Cirrus. Part I. Laboratory, Field, and Flight Experi- ments. RL-785, General Electric Research Laboratory, Schenectady, 1953, S. 1, University at Al- bany, Albany, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Vincent J. Schaefer Papers (UA902.010), 1891-1993, Serie 2, General Electric – Project Cirrus, 1943-1954, 1981, Undated, Unterserie 2.1, Flight Data and Research, 1946-1953, Undated, Box 11, Mappe 39-40. µ Vgl. Havens, History of Project Cirrus, S. 3f. F5872_NOWAK.indd 327 20.11.17 11:35 µ´· NADINE TAHA Von diesen Aktivitäten beein£¹usst, intensivierten die Industrieforscher Irving Langmuir, Vincent Schaefer und Bernard Vonnegut im Jahre 1946 die Forschung im Bereich der Wettermodikation. Aus den anfänglichen Experimenten, die in einer Gefriertruhe durchgeführt wurden, entwickelten sie unter Verwendung von Trockeneis und Silberjodid¸ die Methode des cloud seeding, des Wolkenimpfens. Nach eigenen Aussagen gelang es ihnen bei den ersten Feldstudien, die natürliche Atmosphäre zu manipulieren und Phänomene wie Regen, Schnee und Stürme zu produzieren.º Aufgrund des einsetzenden Kalten Krieges hatte die US-amerika- nische Regierung erneut ein immenses Interesse an Verfahren der Wettermanipu- lation. Beeindruckt durch die Erfolge von General Electric, versprach man sich hiervon, artiziellen Niederschlag als geheime Wafe der Kriegführung nutzbar machen zu können. Mögliche Eingrife in das Wetter, wie etwa das Freisetzen at- mosphärischer Gewalten gegen den Feind oder das Zähmen von Winden im Dienste der eigenen Luftstreitkräfte, nahmen enormen Ein£¹uss auf die Szena- rienentwicklung der militärischen Planungseinheiten. In der Hofnung, das Wet- ter mithilfe von Chemikalien erstmals als Allianzpartner gewinnen zu können, ging das amerikanische Militär eine Kooperation mit dem Unternehmen General Electric ein. Hieraus erwuchs das großangelegte Forschungsvorhaben Project Cir- rus. Im Zeitraum zwischen 1947 und 1952 fanden Experimente statt,¶ die von den industriellen und militärischen Wissenschaftlern in drei Bereiche unterteilt wurden: Laborforschung, Feldstudien und Flugexperimente.® Der Einsatz der Photographie erfüllte während der durchgeführten Flugexpe- rimente nicht allein dokumentarische Zwecke, vielmehr diente das Medium der Erschließung des Luftraumes mitsamt seinen Wolkenkonstellationen. Pro Flug- experiment setzte man neben einem Seeding-Flugzeug ein Photo-Flugzeug ein, welches in Intervallen Photographien anfertigte und damit später Rückschlüsse auf die Wolkenformationen im zeitlichen Verlauf zuließ.· Entwickelt und ausgewertet wurden die Bilder in der laboratorischen Umgebung. Die augen- scheinliche Beweiskraft der Photographie in Bezug auf geographisch rekonstru- ierbare Himmelsereignisse sollte sowohl den internen industriell-militärischen ¸ Silberjodid ist zugleich jenen Silberhalegoniden zuzurechnen, die wegen ihrer Lichtemp- findlichkeit in der analogen Photographie Verwendung finden, zu der auch die hier behan- delte Wolkenphotographie gehörte. Insbesondere kam es bei der Daguerreotypie, der Talbo- typie und der Kalotypie zum Einsatz. Für diesen Hinweis danke ich Lars Nowak. Vgl. Eggert/ Rahts, Photographie. º Vgl. Anonymus, Thinking Outside the Cold Box. ¶ Vgl. Havens/Jiusto/Vonnegut, Early History of Cloud Seeding, S. 5f., 8, 11. ® Zur Klassifikation der Experimente vgl. Vincent Schaefer, Final Report Project Cirrus. Part I. Laboratory, Field, and Flight Experiments. RL-785, General Electric Research Laboratory, Schenectady, 1953, University at Albany, Albany, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Coll- ections and Archives, Vincent J. Schaefer Papers (UA902.010), 1891-1993, Serie 2, General Elec- tric – Project Cirrus, 1943-1954, 1981, Undated, Unterserie 2.1, Flight Data and Research, 1946- 1953, Undated, Box 11, Mappe 39-40. · Vgl. Schaefer, Experimental Meteorology, S. 168f. F5872_NOWAK.indd 328 20.11.17 11:35.
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