
A Very Scary Fireworks Show: Exploding H-Bombs In Space - rpledge
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128170775
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johnohara
One of the purposes for detonating the H-bomb was to determine the effect of
the explosion on the Van Allen Belts.

Typical of Robert Krulwich, and NPR in general, is to find some arcane piece
of interesting news, ask some insightful questions, then only use and report
on the facts that ultimately align with their opinion.

We never do find out if it was harmful to the belts, the atmosphere, or
anything else. How many tests were performed by both sides, or what the effect
of a missile malfunction might have been. No matter, he proffered his opinion.
And that's what really counts.

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apsec112
For the record, the blast _was_ harmful to orbiting satellites, since the belt
of high-energy electrons it released fried their electronics. See
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime#After_effects>

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jsean
"The plan was [...] to see: a) If a bomb's radiation would make it harder to
see what was up there (like incoming Russian missiles!); b) If an explosion
would do any damage to objects nearby; c) If the Van Allen belts would move a
blast down the bands to an earthly target (Moscow! for example); and — most
peculiar — d) if a man-made explosion might "alter" the natural shape of the
belts."

Well... what did they learn then? I find it very insatisfactory when articles
only state an hypothesis or the how of an experiment. Surely people are
interested in the results too?

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shaddi
Discussion from a few days ago: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1478114>

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dbz
One of the scientists from this adventure spoke at my school.

Apparently, one rocket fell, and the plutonium came crashing back down and
landed a few feet from the island in the water.

water = absorb radiation

Or something like that.

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bitslayer
Krulwich concludes "...that we never want to see again." but I'd much rather
those nuclear weapons making awesome fireworks shows than destroying the
earth. Or am I missing something?

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rbanffy
I imagine similar light shows would be seen when a really big spaceship leaves
orbit, firing its engines to propel it into deep space.

It's definitely something I would love to see.

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code_duck
I'd like to see it in my rear-view mirror!

