
Starfish Prime, outer space nuclear test - shaddi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime
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scotty79
> These man-made radiation belts eventually crippled one-third of all
> satellites in low earth orbit.

> Wilmot Hess reported in 1968 that some Starfish electrons remained for five
> years

I guess that came unexpected.

~~~
westbywest
"Seven satellites were destroyed as radiation knocked out their solar arrays
or electronics, including the first commercial relay communication satellite
ever, Telstar."

Such an explosion today would probably cripple global communications for a
month. The device used in this test had a 1.4 Megaton yield, and present
speculation paints Israel as the sole, non-NNPT signatory that may possess
megaton devices, which is not to imply Israel has any obvious motivation for
doing something like this in the near future.

However, as the number non-NNPT signatories grow in number and in yield
stockpiled, so does the risk of someone (again) triggering such an explosion
intentionally.

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openfly
This is the scariest article I've ever read.

~~~
arethuza
If you think that is bad then have a read of:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upshot-Knothole_Harry>

Not to mention some of the alarming Soviet tests, such as:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba>

~~~
izend
Not as scary as if the Tsar Bomb was detonated in space above North America.
It would wipe out the entire power grid of the continent.

~~~
rbanffy
At 27 tons, it would require a Delta IV-class vehicle to haul it there. That
would be quite an impressive ICBM

Now that I said that, we need to place a couple of there in LEO for the time
non-EMP-hardened machines take over the world ;-)

~~~
pyre

      > Now that I said that, we need to place a couple of
      > there in LEO for the time non-EMP-hardened machines
      > take over the world ;-)
    

Just need to make sure that SkyNet doesn't know about/have control over
them...

~~~
CapitalistCartr
When I was in the Air Force, our equipment was archaic by the standards of
contemporary consumer electronics, lots of electro-mechanical stuff. But with
its shielding, it was nearly bulletproof. No worries about EMP, or "Wargames"
silliness.

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thebigshane
Maybe I am a total inconsiderate jerk, but I think this is cool. Using nuclear
power as weapons is bad, but the technology is just... cool.

~~~
c1sc0
Sometimes I wish wee born earlier just to be able to safely witness one of
those experiments.

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hga
From my readings many years ago we were pretty sure the Soviets had discovered
the EMP effect that Starfish Prime revealed to us. Imagine the possible
consequences if we'd remained innocent of the phenomena.

I also wonder how much of what we "know" is based on simulations based off the
inadequate data we captured in this one test.

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tkeller
> Seven satellites were destroyed as radiation knocked out their solar arrays
> or electronics.

Jerks.

~~~
mkramlich
funny, but I bet given the time period the sats were mostly US or Soviet and
the folks running the op may not have minded losing some US sats if it meant
learning what would happen to the Ruskie sats -- by total accident, of course!

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jberryman
this is going to be on all things considered today.

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dkberktas
And the reason is ...

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mkramlich
When I was younger and learned about all the bat shit crazy stuff like this
the US military was doing with nuclear weapons, I assumed that it would cause
long term insidious effects on human health, even if it happened only in
indirect ways via the ecosystem and atmosphere. Today, I'm not convinced
either way. But when there are reports saying cancer incidence has increased
over the last half of this century, and you add to that picture all the crazy
nuclear testing that went on plus all the new chemicals put into agricultural
soil, food, water, etc. and the rise of plastic containers, all without _any_
valid long term health testing done beforehand, you can't help but think
there's going to be a connection.

"Hey lets's have a naked roof party and _watch the nuclear bomb explode in the
sky_ because it'll be groovy, baby!!!"

~~~
hga
Please, you'd expect cancer incidence to go up if for no other reason than
that we're dieing less from other causes.

~~~
adriand
Because detonating nuclear weapons on the earth, in the earth, in the oceans,
in the air, and in space near the earth, could not possibly cause cancer.

~~~
ori_b
How?

Remember, the radiation changes from this stuff is lost in the background
noise you get from materials released when burning coal, or from the minute
amounts of radioactive material in bananas, or the radioactive materials in
smoke alarms.

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mkramlich
This sort of seemingly naive Disney-like way of dealing with and communicating
about nuclear weapons -- esp in material produced for the public by the US
defense/energy depts from the 50's to the 70's -- is what directly inspired
the style and sense of humor shown in the Wasteland/Fallout games.

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tkahn6
_Others reported that radioactive particles from Starfish Prime descended to
earth seasonally and accumulated in terrestrial organisms such as fungi and
lichens.[citation needed]_

Major citation needed there.

~~~
mkramlich
it's what caused The Day of the Triffids, duh! :)

