ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Project HARP

Project HARP, short for High Altitude Research Project, was an initiative started in the 1960s to understand the effect of high altitudes on the Earth's atmosphere. The project aimed to use a giant gun to shoot projectiles high up into the atmosphere, where they would take measurements and collect data.

So, imagine you have a big gun that can shoot things really high up in the sky. The scientists in Project HARP used this gun to shoot things way up into the sky, like a baseball pitcher, to see what was up high in the sky and how it affected the Earth.

They wanted to know things like how the air changes as you get higher and higher, or what kind of weather patterns happen really high up in the sky. To do that, they shot things up into the air and then collected information about what they saw, like how the air felt or what kind of clouds they saw.

This information helped them learn more about the Earth's atmosphere, which is really important because it helps us better understand things like climate change and how it affects our planet.

So, Project HARP was like a giant science experiment that helped us understand more about our Earth and the air that surrounds it.