'Space bubbles' may have doomed key Afghanistan war mission

"Space bubbles" caused a communication blackout that led to a U.S. soldier being killed in Afghanistan in the 2002 battle Operation Anaconda, a study has suggested. A team of 21 men had been deployed from Bagram, Afghanistan, to rescue a team of Navy Seals who were trapped on a ridge in the Shah-i-Kot valley. Their instruction was not to land on the peak because it was under enemy control. The team never got the message and researchers think space-induced interference - plasma bubbles - were to blame.

The spacecraft flew over the battle field at about the right time. It could have pushed them over the edge.

Michael Kelly of the Johns Hopkins University

The Chinook helicopter crashed under heavy fire, with three men killed including Air Force combat controller Technical Sergeant John A Chapman. Researcher Michael Kelly, of the Johns Hopkins University used data from a NASA satellite mission called TIMED, which launched in 2001 to study the composition of Earth’s upper atmosphere. Their study found space bubbles normally occur above Afghanistan around the time the battle occurred. Findings from the data showed there was a space bubble directly between the Navy Seals and the satellite. Plasma bubbles are clouds of electrically charged gas particles. While they cannot be seen, they can bend and disperse radio waves.

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