Operation Fishbowl
Encyclopedia
Operation Fishbowl was a series of high altitude nuclear tests in 1962 that were carried out by the United States as a part of the larger Operation Dominic
nuclear test program.
The first test attempt was delayed until June. Planning for Operation Fishbowl, as well as many other nuclear tests in the region, was begun rapidly in response to the sudden Soviet
announcement on 30 August 1961 that they were ending a three year moratorium on nuclear testing. The rapid planning of very complex operations necessitated many changes as the project progressed.
Urraca was to be a low yield test at very high altitude. The proposed Urraca test was always controversial, especially after the damage caused to satellites by the Starfish Prime
detonation, as described below. Urraca was finally canceled, and an extensive re-evaluation of the Operation Fishbowl plan was made during an 82-day operations pause after the Bluegill Prime disaster of 25 July 1962, as described below.
All of the tests were to be launched on missiles from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator. Johnston Island had already been established as a launch site for United States high-altitude nuclear tests, rather than the other locations in the Pacific Proving Grounds
. In 1958, Lewis Strauss, then chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission
, opposed doing any high-altitude tests at locations that had been used for earlier Pacific nuclear tests. His opposition was because of fears that the flash from the nighttime high-altitude detonations might blind civilians who were living on nearby islands. Johnston Island was a remote location, more distant from populated areas than other potential test locations. In order to protect residents of the Hawaiian Islands
from flash blindness
or permanent retina
l injury from the bright nuclear flash, the nuclear missiles of Operation Fishbowl were launched generally toward the southwest of Johnston Island so that the detonations would be farther from Hawaii.
A test named Kingfish was added during the early stages of Operation Fishbowl planning. Two low-yield tests, Checkmate and Tightrope, were also added during the project, so the final number of tests in Operation Fishbowl were 5:
According to the United States government reporting system, in the above table: "Submegaton" means a nuclear weapon yield
of less than one megaton and greater than 200 kilotons. "Low kiloton" means a nuclear weapon yield of less than 20 kilotons. Probable weapon yields are discussed further in the text below describing the particular test. Detonation times are Coordinated Universal Time
in the format hours:minutes:seconds
, ORANGE, and YUCCA, plus the three ARGUS
shots were poorly instrumented and hastily executed. Despite thorough studies of the meager data, present models of these bursts are sketchy and tentative. These models are too uncertain to permit extrapolation to other altitudes and yields with any confidence. Thus there is a strong need, not only for better instrumentation, but for further tests covering a range of altitudes and yields."
There were three phenomena in particular that required further investigation:
1. The electromagnetic pulse
generated by a high-altitude nuclear explosion appeared to have very significant differences from the electromagnetic pulse generated by nuclear explosions closer to the surface.
2. The auroras
associated with high-altitude nuclear explosions, especially the auroras that appeared almost instantaneously far away from the explosion in the opposite hemisphere, were not clearly understood. The nature of the possible radiation belts that were initially generated along the magnetic field lines connecting the areas of the auroral displays were also poorly understood.
3. Areas of blackout
of radio communication needed to be understood in much more detail since that information would be critical for military operations during periods of possible nuclear explosions.
The Fishbowl tests were monitored by a large number of surface and aircraft-based stations in the wide area around the planned detonations and also in the region in the southern hemisphere in the Samoan Islands
region, which was known in these tests as the southern conjugate region. Johnston Island is in the northern hemisphere, as were all of the planned Operation Fishbowl nuclear detonation locations. It was known from previous high altitude tests, as well as from theoretical work done in the late 1950s, that high-altitude nuclear tests produce a number of unique geophysical phenomena at the opposite end of the magnetic field line of the Earth's magnetic field
.
According to the standard reference book on nuclear weapon effects by the United States Department of Defense
, "For the high-altitude tests conducted in 1958 and 1962 in the vicinity of Johnston Island, the charged particles entered the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere between Johnston Island and the main Hawaiian Islands
, whereas the conjugate region was in the vicinity of the Samoan
, Fiji
, and Tonga
Islands. It is in these areas that auroras were actually observed, in addition to those in the areas of the nuclear explosions."
Beta particles are charged particles (usually with a negative electrical charge) that are released from nuclear explosions. These particles travel in a spiral along the magnetic field lines
in the Earth's magnetic field. The nuclear explosions also release heavier debris ion
s, which also carry an electrical charge, and which also travel in a spiral along the Earth's magnetic field lines.
The Earth's magnetic field lines arc high above the Earth until they reach the magnetic conjugate area in the opposite hemisphere.
According to the DOD
nuclear weapon effects reference, "Because the beta particles have high velocities, the beta auroras in the remote (southern) hemisphere appeared within a fraction of a second of those in the hemisphere where the burst had occurred. The debris ions, however, travel more slowly and so the debris aurora in the remote hemisphere, if it is formed, appears at a somewhat later time. The beta auroras are generally most intense at an altitude of 30 to 60 miles, whereas the intensity of the debris auroras is greatest in the 60 to 125 miles range. Remote conjugate beta auroras can occur if the detonation is above 25 miles, whereas debris auroras appear only if the detonation altitude is in excess of some 200 miles."
Some of the charged particles traveling along the Earth's magnetic field lines cause auroras and other geophysical phenomena in the conjugate areas. Other charged particles are reflected back along the magnetic field lines, where they can persist for long periods of time (up to several months or longer), forming artificial radiation belts.
According to the Operation Fishbowl planning document of November 1961, "Since much valuable data can be obtained from time and spectrum resolved photography, this dictates that the test be performed at nighttime when auroral photographic conditions are best." As with all U.S. Pacific high-altitude nuclear tests, all of the Operation Fishbowl tests were completed at night. This is in contrast to the Soviet high-altitude tests of the K Project
, which were done over the populated land region of central Kazakhstan
, and therefore had to be done during the daytime to avoid eyeburn damage to the population from the very bright flash of high-altitude nuclear explosions (as discussed in the introduction to this article).
Some of the missile parts fell on Johnston Island, and a large amount of missile debris fell into the ocean in the vicinity of the island. Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal and Underwater Demolition Team swimmers recovered approximately 250 pieces of the missile assembly during the next two weeks. Some of the debris was contaminated with plutonium
. Nonessential personnel had been evacuated from Johnston Island during the test.
, which was nine seconds after 10 p.m. on 8 July, Johnston Island local time, the Starfish Prime
test was successfully detonated at an altitude of 400 kilometres (248.5 mi). The coordinates of the detonation were 16 degrees, 28 minutes North latitude, 169 degrees, 38 minutes West longitude (30 km, or about 18 mi, southwest of Johnston Island). The actual weapon yield was very close to the design yield, which has been described by various sources at different values in the very narrow range of 1.4 to 1.45 megatons
(6.0 PJ).
The Thor missile carrying the Starfish Prime warhead actually reached an apogee (maximum height) of about 1100 km (just over 680 miles), and the warhead was detonated on its downward trajectory when it had fallen to the programmed altitude of 400 kilometres (248.5 mi). The nuclear warhead detonated at 13 minutes and 41 seconds after liftoff of the Thor missile.
Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse
(EMP) which was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1445 kilometre away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link (the detonation time was nine seconds after 11 p.m. in Hawaii).
A total of 27 small rockets were launched from Johnston Island to obtain experimental data from the shot, with the first of the support rockets being launched 2 hours and 45 minutes before the launch of the Thor missile carrying the nuclear warhead. Most of these smaller instrumentation rockets were launched just after the time of the launch of the main Thor missile carrying the warhead. In addition, a large number of rocket-borne instruments were launched from a firing area at Barking Sands, Kauai
in the Hawaiian Islands.
A very large number of United States military ships and aircraft were operating in support of Starfish Prime in the Johnston Island area and across the nearby North Pacific region. A few military ships and aircraft were also positioned in the southern conjugate region for the test, which was near the Samoan Islands. In addition, an uninvited scientific expeditionary ship from the Soviet Union
was stationed near Johnston Island for the test and another Soviet scientific expeditionary ship was located in the southern conjugate region.
After the Starfish Prime detonation, bright auroras were observed in the detonation area as well as in the southern conjugate region on the other side of the equator from the detonation. According to one of the first technical reports, "The visible phenomena due to the burst were widespread and quite intense; a very large area of the Pacific was illuminated by the auroral phenomena, from far south of the south magnetic conjugate area (Tongatapu
) through the burst area to far north of the north conjugate area (French Frigate Shoals
). ... At twilight after the burst, resonant scattering of light from lithium
and other debris was observed at Johnston and French Frigate Shoals for many days confirming the long time presence of debris in the atmosphere. An interesting side effect was that the Royal New Zealand Air Force
was aided in anti-submarine maneuvers by the light from the bomb."
The Starfish Prime radiation belt persisted at high altitude for many months and damaged the United States satellites Ariel
, Traac
, Transit 4B
, Injun I
and Telstar I
. It also damaged the Soviet satellite Cosmos V
. All of these satellites failed completely within several months of the Starfish detonation. There is also evidence that the Starfish Prime radiation belt may have damaged the satellites Explorer 14, Explorer 15 and Relay 1.
Telstar I lasted the longest of the satellites that were clearly damaged by the Starfish Prime radiation, with its complete failure occurring on February 21, 1963.
In 2010, the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency
issued a report that had been written in support of the United States Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. The report, entitled "Collateral Damage to Satellites from an EMP Attack," discusses in great detail the satellite damage caused by the Starfish Prime artificial radiation belts as well as other historical nuclear events that caused artificial radiation belts and their effects on many satellites that were then in orbit. The same report also projects the effects of one or more present-day high altitude nuclear explosions upon the formation of artificial radiation belts and the probable resulting effects on satellites that were in orbit as of the year 2010.
Although there was no danger of an accidental nuclear explosion, the destruction of the nuclear warhead on the launch pad caused extensive contamination of the area by alpha-emitting radioactive materials. Burning rocket fuel, flowing through the cable trenches, caused extensive chemical contamination of the trenches and the equipment associated with the cabling in the trenches.
The radiation contamination on Johnston Island was determined to be a major problem, and it was necessary to decontaminate the entire area before the badly damaged launch pad could be rebuilt.
According to the Operation Dominic I report, "The enforced pause allowed DOD
to replan the remainder of the Fishbowl series. The Urraca event was canceled to avoid further damage to satellites and three new shots were added." A second launch pad was constructed during the operations pause so that Operation Fishbowl could continue in the event of another serious accident.
), another attempt was made at the Bluegill test. The Thor missile malfunctioned and began tumbling out of control about 85 seconds after launch, and the range safety officer ordered the destruction of the missile and its nuclear warhead about 95 seconds after launch.
rocket launched a low-yield nuclear warhead which detonated successfully at an altitude of 147 kilometres (91.3 mi). It was reported that the yield and burst altitude were very close to those desired, but according to most official documents the exact nuclear yield remains classified. It is reported in the open literature as simply being less than 20 kilotons. One report by the U.S. federal government, however, reported the Checkmate test yield as 10 kilotons.
It was reported that, "Observers on Johnston Island saw a green and blue circular region surrounded by a blood-red ring formed overhead that faded in less than 1 minute. Blue-green streamers and numerous pink striations formed, the latter lasting for 30 minutes. Observers at Samoa saw a white flash, which faded to orange and disappeared in about 1 minute."
was 0959 on 26 October 1962). Although it was officially reported only as being in the submegaton range (meaning more than 200 kilotons but less than one megaton), most observers of the U.S. nuclear testing programs believe that the nuclear yield was about 400 kilotons. One report by the U.S. federal government reported the test yield as 200 kilotons.
Since all of the Operation Fishbowl tests were planned to occur during the night, the potential for eyeburn, especially for permanent retinal damage, was an important consideration at all levels of planning. Much research went into the potential eyeburn problem. One of the official reports for the project stated that, for the altitudes planned for the Bluegill, Kingfish and Checkmate tests, "the thermal-pulse durations are of the same order of magnitude or shorter than the natural blink period which, for the average person, is about 150 milliseconds. Furthermore, the atmospheric attenuation is normally much less for a given distance than in the case of sea-level or near-sea-level explosions. Consequently, the eye-damage hazard is more severe."
Two cases of retinal damage did occur with military personnel on Johnston Island during the Bluegill Triple Prime test. Neither individual had his protective goggles in place at the instant of the detonation. One official report stated, "In the first case, acuity for central vision was 20/400 initially, but returned to 20/25 by six months. The second victim was less fortunate, as central vision did not improve beyond 20/60. The lesion diameters were 0.35 and 0.50 mm respectively. Both individuals noted immediate visual disturbances, but neither was incapacitated."
There had been concern that eyeburn problems might occur during the earlier Starfish Prime test, since the countdown was rebroadcast by radio stations in Hawaii, and many civilians would be watching the thermonuclear detonation as it occurred, but no such problems in Hawaii were reported.
As with the other Fishbowl tests, a number of small rockets with various scientific instrumentation were launched from Johnson Island to monitor the effects of the high-altitude explosion. In the case of the Kingfish test, 29 rockets were launched from Johnston Island in addition to the Thor rocket carrying the nuclear warhead.
According to the official report, at the time of the Kingfish detonation, "Johnston Island observers saw a yellow-white, luminous circle with intense purple streamers for the first minute. Some of the streamers displayed what appeared to be a rapid twisting motion at times. A large pale-green patch appeared somewhat south of the burst and grew, becoming the dominant visible feature after 5 minutes. By H+1 the green had become dull gray, but the feature persisted for 3 hours. At Oahu
a bright flash was observed and after about 10 seconds a great white ball appeared to rise slowly out of the sea and was visible for about 9 minutes."
After most of the electromagnetic pulse measurements on Starfish Prime had failed because the EMP was so much larger than expected, extra care was taken to obtain accurate EMP measurements on the Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish tests. The EMP mechanism that had been hypothesized before Operation Fishbowl had been conclusively disproven by the Starfish Prime test. Prompt gamma ray output measurements on these later tests were also carefully obtained so that a new theory of the mechanism for high-altitude EMP could be developed and confirmed. That new theory about the generation of nuclear EMP was developed by Los Alamos physicist Conrad Longmire
in 1963, and it is the high-altitude nuclear EMP theory that is still used today.
As of the beginning of 2011, the EMP waveforms and prompt gamma radiation outputs for Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish remain classified. An unclassified report, however, confirms that these measurements were successfully made and that a subsequent theory (which is the one now used) was developed which describes the mechanism by which the high-altitude EMP is generated. That new theory does give results which are consistent with both the Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish data. (The report actually using the Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish data to confirm the new EMP theory is the still-classified Part 2 of the unclassified report by Conrad Longmire.)
According to a Sandia National Laboratories report, EMP generated during the Operation Fishbowl tests caused "... input circuit troubles in radio receivers during the Starfish and Checkmate bursts; the triggering of surge arresters on an airplane with a trailing-wire antenna during Starfish, Checkmate, and Bluegill; and the Oahu streetlight incident." (The "Oahu streetlight incident" refers to the 300 streetlights in Honolulu extinguished by the Starfish Prime detonation.)
, 4 November 1962). It was launched on a Nike-Hercules missile, and detonated at a lower altitude than the other Fishbowl tests. Although it was officially one of the Operation Fishbowl tests, it is sometimes not listed among high-altitude nuclear tests because of its lower detonation altitude. The nuclear yield was reported in most official documents only as being less than 20 kilotons. One report by the U.S. federal government, however, reported the Tightrope test yield as 10 kilotons.
"At Johnston Island, there was an intense white flash. Even with high-density goggles, the burst was too bright to view, even for a few seconds. A distinct thermal pulse was also felt on the bare skin. A yellow-orange disc was formed, which transformed itself into a purple doughnut. A glowing purple cloud was faintly visible for a few minutes."
Seven rockets carrying scientific instrumentation were launched from Johnston Island in support of the Tightrope test, which was the final atmospheric test conducted by the United States.
Operation Dominic I and II
Operation Dominic was a series of 105 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1962 by the United States. Those conducted in the Pacific are sometimes called Dominic I. The blasts in Nevada are known as Dominic II. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet...
nuclear test program.
Introduction
The Operation Fishbowl nuclear tests were originally planned to be completed during the first half of 1962 with three tests named Bluegill, Starfish and Urraca.The first test attempt was delayed until June. Planning for Operation Fishbowl, as well as many other nuclear tests in the region, was begun rapidly in response to the sudden Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
announcement on 30 August 1961 that they were ending a three year moratorium on nuclear testing. The rapid planning of very complex operations necessitated many changes as the project progressed.
Urraca was to be a low yield test at very high altitude. The proposed Urraca test was always controversial, especially after the damage caused to satellites by the Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States of America on July 9, 1962, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Defense Atomic Support Agency ....
detonation, as described below. Urraca was finally canceled, and an extensive re-evaluation of the Operation Fishbowl plan was made during an 82-day operations pause after the Bluegill Prime disaster of 25 July 1962, as described below.
All of the tests were to be launched on missiles from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator. Johnston Island had already been established as a launch site for United States high-altitude nuclear tests, rather than the other locations in the Pacific Proving Grounds
Pacific Proving Grounds
The Pacific Proving Grounds was the name used to describe a number of sites in the Marshall Islands and a few other sites in the Pacific Ocean, used by the United States to conduct nuclear testing at various times between 1946 and 1962...
. In 1958, Lewis Strauss, then chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
, opposed doing any high-altitude tests at locations that had been used for earlier Pacific nuclear tests. His opposition was because of fears that the flash from the nighttime high-altitude detonations might blind civilians who were living on nearby islands. Johnston Island was a remote location, more distant from populated areas than other potential test locations. In order to protect residents of the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
from flash blindness
Flash blindness
Flash blindness is visual impairment during and following exposure to a light flash of extremely high intensity. It may last for a few seconds to a few minutes....
or permanent retina
Retina
The vertebrate retina is a light-sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera. Light striking the retina initiates a cascade of chemical and electrical...
l injury from the bright nuclear flash, the nuclear missiles of Operation Fishbowl were launched generally toward the southwest of Johnston Island so that the detonations would be farther from Hawaii.
A test named Kingfish was added during the early stages of Operation Fishbowl planning. Two low-yield tests, Checkmate and Tightrope, were also added during the project, so the final number of tests in Operation Fishbowl were 5:
| Test name | Date (UTC Coordinated Universal Time Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose... ) | Time (UTC Coordinated Universal Time Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose... ) | Yield Nuclear weapon yield The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy discharged when a nuclear weapon is detonated, expressed usually in the equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene , either in kilotons or megatons , but sometimes also in terajoules... (approximate) | Altitude (km) | Longitude, °N | Latitude, °W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starfish Prime Starfish Prime Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States of America on July 9, 1962, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Defense Atomic Support Agency .... | 9 July 1962 | 09:00:09 | 1.4 megatons TNT equivalent TNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 gigajoules, which is approximately the amount of energy released in the detonation of one ton of TNT... | 400.1 | 16° 28' 6.3" | 169° 37' 48.3" |
| Checkmate | 20 October 1962 | 08:30:00 | Low kiloton | 147.3 | 16° 4' 20.6" | 169° 36' 35.9" |
| Bluegill Triple Prime | 26 October 1962 | 09:59:48 | Submegaton | 48.32 | 16° 24' 57.0" | 169° 36' 11.2" |
| Kingfish | 1 November 1962 | 12:10:06 | Submegaton | 97.24 | 16° 6' 48.6" | 169° 40' 56.0" |
| Tightrope | 4 November 1962 | 07:30:00 | Low kiloton | 21.03 | 16° 42' 26.7" | 169° 32' 32.7" |
According to the United States government reporting system, in the above table: "Submegaton" means a nuclear weapon yield
Nuclear weapon yield
The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy discharged when a nuclear weapon is detonated, expressed usually in the equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene , either in kilotons or megatons , but sometimes also in terajoules...
of less than one megaton and greater than 200 kilotons. "Low kiloton" means a nuclear weapon yield of less than 20 kilotons. Probable weapon yields are discussed further in the text below describing the particular test. Detonation times are Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
in the format hours:minutes:seconds
Research directions
The United States completed six high-altitude nuclear tests in 1958, but the high-altitude tests of that year raised a number of questions. According to U.S. Government Report ADA955694 on the first successful test of the Fishbowl series, "Previous high-altitude nuclear tests: TEAKHardtack Teak
HARDTACK-Teak was an exoatmospheric high altitude nuclear weapon test performed during Operation Hardtack I. It was launched from Johnston Island on a Redstone missile. On 1 August 1958, the 3.8 Mt shot detonated at an altitude of 76.8 km. Teak caused communications impairment over a...
, ORANGE, and YUCCA, plus the three ARGUS
Operation Argus
Operation Argus was a series of nuclear weapons tests and missile tests secretly conducted during August and September 1958 over the South Atlantic Ocean by the United States's Defense Nuclear Agency, in conjunction with the Explorer 4 space mission. Operation Argus was conducted between the...
shots were poorly instrumented and hastily executed. Despite thorough studies of the meager data, present models of these bursts are sketchy and tentative. These models are too uncertain to permit extrapolation to other altitudes and yields with any confidence. Thus there is a strong need, not only for better instrumentation, but for further tests covering a range of altitudes and yields."
There were three phenomena in particular that required further investigation:
1. The electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
generated by a high-altitude nuclear explosion appeared to have very significant differences from the electromagnetic pulse generated by nuclear explosions closer to the surface.
2. The auroras
Aurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
associated with high-altitude nuclear explosions, especially the auroras that appeared almost instantaneously far away from the explosion in the opposite hemisphere, were not clearly understood. The nature of the possible radiation belts that were initially generated along the magnetic field lines connecting the areas of the auroral displays were also poorly understood.
3. Areas of blackout
Communications blackout
In telecommunications, communications blackouts are*a cessation of communications or communications capability, caused by a lack of power to a communications facility or to communications equipment....
of radio communication needed to be understood in much more detail since that information would be critical for military operations during periods of possible nuclear explosions.
The Fishbowl tests were monitored by a large number of surface and aircraft-based stations in the wide area around the planned detonations and also in the region in the southern hemisphere in the Samoan Islands
Samoan Islands
The Samoan Islands or Samoa Islands is an archipelago covering in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and the wider region of Oceania...
region, which was known in these tests as the southern conjugate region. Johnston Island is in the northern hemisphere, as were all of the planned Operation Fishbowl nuclear detonation locations. It was known from previous high altitude tests, as well as from theoretical work done in the late 1950s, that high-altitude nuclear tests produce a number of unique geophysical phenomena at the opposite end of the magnetic field line of the Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field is the magnetic field that extends from the Earth's inner core to where it meets the solar wind, a stream of energetic particles emanating from the Sun...
.
According to the standard reference book on nuclear weapon effects by the United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, "For the high-altitude tests conducted in 1958 and 1962 in the vicinity of Johnston Island, the charged particles entered the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere between Johnston Island and the main Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, whereas the conjugate region was in the vicinity of the Samoan
Samoan Islands
The Samoan Islands or Samoa Islands is an archipelago covering in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and the wider region of Oceania...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, and Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
Islands. It is in these areas that auroras were actually observed, in addition to those in the areas of the nuclear explosions."
Beta particles are charged particles (usually with a negative electrical charge) that are released from nuclear explosions. These particles travel in a spiral along the magnetic field lines
Field line
A field line is a locus that is defined by a vector field and a starting location within the field. Field lines are useful for visualizing vector fields, which are otherwise hard to depict...
in the Earth's magnetic field. The nuclear explosions also release heavier debris ion
Ion
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...
s, which also carry an electrical charge, and which also travel in a spiral along the Earth's magnetic field lines.
The Earth's magnetic field lines arc high above the Earth until they reach the magnetic conjugate area in the opposite hemisphere.
According to the DOD
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
nuclear weapon effects reference, "Because the beta particles have high velocities, the beta auroras in the remote (southern) hemisphere appeared within a fraction of a second of those in the hemisphere where the burst had occurred. The debris ions, however, travel more slowly and so the debris aurora in the remote hemisphere, if it is formed, appears at a somewhat later time. The beta auroras are generally most intense at an altitude of 30 to 60 miles, whereas the intensity of the debris auroras is greatest in the 60 to 125 miles range. Remote conjugate beta auroras can occur if the detonation is above 25 miles, whereas debris auroras appear only if the detonation altitude is in excess of some 200 miles."
Some of the charged particles traveling along the Earth's magnetic field lines cause auroras and other geophysical phenomena in the conjugate areas. Other charged particles are reflected back along the magnetic field lines, where they can persist for long periods of time (up to several months or longer), forming artificial radiation belts.
According to the Operation Fishbowl planning document of November 1961, "Since much valuable data can be obtained from time and spectrum resolved photography, this dictates that the test be performed at nighttime when auroral photographic conditions are best." As with all U.S. Pacific high-altitude nuclear tests, all of the Operation Fishbowl tests were completed at night. This is in contrast to the Soviet high-altitude tests of the K Project
The K Project
The K Project, or also Operation K, was a series of five high altitude nuclear explosions, nuclear tests performed by the Soviet Union during the years 1961 and 1962. Their purpose was to test the performance of anti-ballistic missiles of the ABM System A and their resistance against nuclear blasts...
, which were done over the populated land region of central Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, and therefore had to be done during the daytime to avoid eyeburn damage to the population from the very bright flash of high-altitude nuclear explosions (as discussed in the introduction to this article).
First attempts
According to the initial plan of Operation Fishbowl, the nuclear tests were to be Bluegill, Starfish and Urraca, in that order. If a test were to fail, the next attempt of the same test would be of the same name plus the word "prime." If Bluegill failed, the next attempt would be "Bluegill Prime," and if "Bluegill Prime" failed, the next attempt would be "Bluegill Double Prime," etc.Bluegill
The first planned test of Operation Fishbowl was on 2 June 1962 when a nuclear warhead was launched from Johnston Island on a Thor missile just after midnight. Although the Thor missile appeared to be on a normal trajectory, the radar tracking system lost track of the missile. Because of the large number of ships and aircraft in the area, there was no way to predict if the missile was on a safe trajectory, so the range safety officers ordered the missile with its warhead to be destroyed. No nuclear detonation occurred and no data was obtained.Starfish
The second planned test of Operation Fishbowl was on 19 June 1962. The launch of a Thor missile with a nuclear warhead occurred just before midnight from Johnston Island. The Thor missile flew a normal trajectory for 59 seconds; then the rocket engine suddenly stopped, and the missile began to break apart. The range safety officer ordered the destruction of the missile and the warhead. The missile was between 30,000 and 35,000 feet (between 9.1 and 10.7 km) in altitude when it was destroyed.Some of the missile parts fell on Johnston Island, and a large amount of missile debris fell into the ocean in the vicinity of the island. Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal and Underwater Demolition Team swimmers recovered approximately 250 pieces of the missile assembly during the next two weeks. Some of the debris was contaminated with plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
. Nonessential personnel had been evacuated from Johnston Island during the test.
Starfish Prime
On 9 July 1962, at 09:00:09 Coordinated Universal TimeCoordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
, which was nine seconds after 10 p.m. on 8 July, Johnston Island local time, the Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States of America on July 9, 1962, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Defense Atomic Support Agency ....
test was successfully detonated at an altitude of 400 kilometres (248.5 mi). The coordinates of the detonation were 16 degrees, 28 minutes North latitude, 169 degrees, 38 minutes West longitude (30 km, or about 18 mi, southwest of Johnston Island). The actual weapon yield was very close to the design yield, which has been described by various sources at different values in the very narrow range of 1.4 to 1.45 megatons
Nuclear weapon yield
The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy discharged when a nuclear weapon is detonated, expressed usually in the equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene , either in kilotons or megatons , but sometimes also in terajoules...
(6.0 PJ).
The Thor missile carrying the Starfish Prime warhead actually reached an apogee (maximum height) of about 1100 km (just over 680 miles), and the warhead was detonated on its downward trajectory when it had fallen to the programmed altitude of 400 kilometres (248.5 mi). The nuclear warhead detonated at 13 minutes and 41 seconds after liftoff of the Thor missile.
Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
(EMP) which was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1445 kilometre away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link (the detonation time was nine seconds after 11 p.m. in Hawaii).
A total of 27 small rockets were launched from Johnston Island to obtain experimental data from the shot, with the first of the support rockets being launched 2 hours and 45 minutes before the launch of the Thor missile carrying the nuclear warhead. Most of these smaller instrumentation rockets were launched just after the time of the launch of the main Thor missile carrying the warhead. In addition, a large number of rocket-borne instruments were launched from a firing area at Barking Sands, Kauai
Kauai
Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...
in the Hawaiian Islands.
A very large number of United States military ships and aircraft were operating in support of Starfish Prime in the Johnston Island area and across the nearby North Pacific region. A few military ships and aircraft were also positioned in the southern conjugate region for the test, which was near the Samoan Islands. In addition, an uninvited scientific expeditionary ship from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
was stationed near Johnston Island for the test and another Soviet scientific expeditionary ship was located in the southern conjugate region.
After the Starfish Prime detonation, bright auroras were observed in the detonation area as well as in the southern conjugate region on the other side of the equator from the detonation. According to one of the first technical reports, "The visible phenomena due to the burst were widespread and quite intense; a very large area of the Pacific was illuminated by the auroral phenomena, from far south of the south magnetic conjugate area (Tongatapu
Tongatapu
Tongatapu is the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga and the location of its capital Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with approximately 71,260 residents , 70.5% of the national population...
) through the burst area to far north of the north conjugate area (French Frigate Shoals
French Frigate Shoals
The French Frigate Shoals is the largest atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Its name commemorates French explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse, who nearly lost two frigates when attempting to navigate the shoals...
). ... At twilight after the burst, resonant scattering of light from lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
and other debris was observed at Johnston and French Frigate Shoals for many days confirming the long time presence of debris in the atmosphere. An interesting side effect was that the Royal New Zealand Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is the air arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
was aided in anti-submarine maneuvers by the light from the bomb."
The Starfish Prime radiation belt persisted at high altitude for many months and damaged the United States satellites Ariel
Ariel 1
Ariel 1, also known as UK-1 and S-55, was the first British satellite, and the first satellite in the Ariel programme. Its launch in 1962 made the United Kingdom the third country to operate a satellite, after the Soviet Union and the USA...
, Traac
Transit Research and Attitude Control
The Transit Research and Attitude Control satellite was launched by the U.S. Navy from Cape Kennedy along with Transit 4B on November 15, 1961. The 109 kg satellite was used to test the feasibility of using gravity-gradient stabilization in Transit navigational satellites...
, Transit 4B
Transit (satellite)
The TRANSIT system, also known as NAVSAT , was the first satellite navigation system to be used operationally. The system was primarily used by the U.S...
, Injun I
Injun (satellite)
The Injun program was a series of six satellites designed and built by researchers at the University of Iowa. They were intended to observe various radiation and magnetic phenomena in the ionosphere and beyond....
and Telstar I
Telstar
Telstar is the name of various communications satellites, including the first such satellite to relay television signals.The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962...
. It also damaged the Soviet satellite Cosmos V
Kosmos 5
Kosmos 5 , also known as 2MS #2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 15 was a scientific research and technology demonstration satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. It was the fifth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the third spacecraft to be launched as part of...
. All of these satellites failed completely within several months of the Starfish detonation. There is also evidence that the Starfish Prime radiation belt may have damaged the satellites Explorer 14, Explorer 15 and Relay 1.
Telstar I lasted the longest of the satellites that were clearly damaged by the Starfish Prime radiation, with its complete failure occurring on February 21, 1963.
In 2010, the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency is an agency within the United States Department of Defense and is the official Combat Support Agency for countering weapons of mass destruction . DTRA's main functions are threat reduction, threat control, combat support, and technology development...
issued a report that had been written in support of the United States Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. The report, entitled "Collateral Damage to Satellites from an EMP Attack," discusses in great detail the satellite damage caused by the Starfish Prime artificial radiation belts as well as other historical nuclear events that caused artificial radiation belts and their effects on many satellites that were then in orbit. The same report also projects the effects of one or more present-day high altitude nuclear explosions upon the formation of artificial radiation belts and the probable resulting effects on satellites that were in orbit as of the year 2010.
Bluegill Prime
On 25 July 1962, a second attempt was made to launch the Bluegill device. Due to a sticking valve, the Thor missile malfunctioned after ignition of the rocket engine, but before leaving the launch pad. The range safety officer destroyed the nuclear warhead by radio command with the missile still on the launch pad. The Thor missile then exploded, causing extensive damage in the area of the launch pad.Although there was no danger of an accidental nuclear explosion, the destruction of the nuclear warhead on the launch pad caused extensive contamination of the area by alpha-emitting radioactive materials. Burning rocket fuel, flowing through the cable trenches, caused extensive chemical contamination of the trenches and the equipment associated with the cabling in the trenches.
The radiation contamination on Johnston Island was determined to be a major problem, and it was necessary to decontaminate the entire area before the badly damaged launch pad could be rebuilt.
Operations pause
Operation Fishbowl test operations stopped after the disastrous failure of Bluegill Prime, and most of the personnel not directly involved in the radioactive cleanup and launch pad rebuild on Johnston Island returned to their home stations to await the resumption of tests.According to the Operation Dominic I report, "The enforced pause allowed DOD
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
to replan the remainder of the Fishbowl series. The Urraca event was canceled to avoid further damage to satellites and three new shots were added." A second launch pad was constructed during the operations pause so that Operation Fishbowl could continue in the event of another serious accident.
Continuation of the Fishbowl series
After a pause of nearly three months, Operation Fishbowl was ready to continue, beginning with another attempt at the Bluegill test.Bluegill Double Prime
Eighty two days after the failure of Bluegill Prime, about 30 minutes before midnight on the night of 15 October 1962, local Johnston Island time (16 October UTCCoordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
), another attempt was made at the Bluegill test. The Thor missile malfunctioned and began tumbling out of control about 85 seconds after launch, and the range safety officer ordered the destruction of the missile and its nuclear warhead about 95 seconds after launch.
Checkmate
On 19 October 1962, at about 90 minutes before midnight (local Johnston Island time), an XM-33 StrypiStrypi
Strypi is the name of a US sounding rocket. The Strypi has two stages. The first stage consists of two Recruit, the second of one Castor-rocket...
rocket launched a low-yield nuclear warhead which detonated successfully at an altitude of 147 kilometres (91.3 mi). It was reported that the yield and burst altitude were very close to those desired, but according to most official documents the exact nuclear yield remains classified. It is reported in the open literature as simply being less than 20 kilotons. One report by the U.S. federal government, however, reported the Checkmate test yield as 10 kilotons.
It was reported that, "Observers on Johnston Island saw a green and blue circular region surrounded by a blood-red ring formed overhead that faded in less than 1 minute. Blue-green streamers and numerous pink striations formed, the latter lasting for 30 minutes. Observers at Samoa saw a white flash, which faded to orange and disappeared in about 1 minute."
Bluegill Triple Prime
The fourth attempt at the Bluegill test was launched on a Thor missile on 25 October 1962 (Johnston Island time). It resulted in a successful detonation of a submegaton nuclear warhead at about one minute before midnight, local time (the official Coordinated Universal TimeCoordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
was 0959 on 26 October 1962). Although it was officially reported only as being in the submegaton range (meaning more than 200 kilotons but less than one megaton), most observers of the U.S. nuclear testing programs believe that the nuclear yield was about 400 kilotons. One report by the U.S. federal government reported the test yield as 200 kilotons.
Since all of the Operation Fishbowl tests were planned to occur during the night, the potential for eyeburn, especially for permanent retinal damage, was an important consideration at all levels of planning. Much research went into the potential eyeburn problem. One of the official reports for the project stated that, for the altitudes planned for the Bluegill, Kingfish and Checkmate tests, "the thermal-pulse durations are of the same order of magnitude or shorter than the natural blink period which, for the average person, is about 150 milliseconds. Furthermore, the atmospheric attenuation is normally much less for a given distance than in the case of sea-level or near-sea-level explosions. Consequently, the eye-damage hazard is more severe."
Two cases of retinal damage did occur with military personnel on Johnston Island during the Bluegill Triple Prime test. Neither individual had his protective goggles in place at the instant of the detonation. One official report stated, "In the first case, acuity for central vision was 20/400 initially, but returned to 20/25 by six months. The second victim was less fortunate, as central vision did not improve beyond 20/60. The lesion diameters were 0.35 and 0.50 mm respectively. Both individuals noted immediate visual disturbances, but neither was incapacitated."
There had been concern that eyeburn problems might occur during the earlier Starfish Prime test, since the countdown was rebroadcast by radio stations in Hawaii, and many civilians would be watching the thermonuclear detonation as it occurred, but no such problems in Hawaii were reported.
Kingfish
The Kingfish detonation occurred at 0210 (Johnston Island time) on 1 November 1962 and was the fourth successful detonation of the Fishbowl series. It was officially reported only as being a submegaton explosion (meaning in the range of more than 200 kilotons, but less than a megaton), but most independent observers believe that it used the same 400 kiloton warhead as the Bluegill Triple Prime test, although one report by the U.S. federal government reported the test yield as 200 kilotons.As with the other Fishbowl tests, a number of small rockets with various scientific instrumentation were launched from Johnson Island to monitor the effects of the high-altitude explosion. In the case of the Kingfish test, 29 rockets were launched from Johnston Island in addition to the Thor rocket carrying the nuclear warhead.
According to the official report, at the time of the Kingfish detonation, "Johnston Island observers saw a yellow-white, luminous circle with intense purple streamers for the first minute. Some of the streamers displayed what appeared to be a rapid twisting motion at times. A large pale-green patch appeared somewhat south of the burst and grew, becoming the dominant visible feature after 5 minutes. By H+1 the green had become dull gray, but the feature persisted for 3 hours. At Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
a bright flash was observed and after about 10 seconds a great white ball appeared to rise slowly out of the sea and was visible for about 9 minutes."
After most of the electromagnetic pulse measurements on Starfish Prime had failed because the EMP was so much larger than expected, extra care was taken to obtain accurate EMP measurements on the Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish tests. The EMP mechanism that had been hypothesized before Operation Fishbowl had been conclusively disproven by the Starfish Prime test. Prompt gamma ray output measurements on these later tests were also carefully obtained so that a new theory of the mechanism for high-altitude EMP could be developed and confirmed. That new theory about the generation of nuclear EMP was developed by Los Alamos physicist Conrad Longmire
Conrad Longmire
Conrad Lee Longmire was an American theoretical physicist who was best known as the discoverer of the mechanism behind high-altitude electromagnetic pulse....
in 1963, and it is the high-altitude nuclear EMP theory that is still used today.
As of the beginning of 2011, the EMP waveforms and prompt gamma radiation outputs for Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish remain classified. An unclassified report, however, confirms that these measurements were successfully made and that a subsequent theory (which is the one now used) was developed which describes the mechanism by which the high-altitude EMP is generated. That new theory does give results which are consistent with both the Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish data. (The report actually using the Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish data to confirm the new EMP theory is the still-classified Part 2 of the unclassified report by Conrad Longmire.)
According to a Sandia National Laboratories report, EMP generated during the Operation Fishbowl tests caused "... input circuit troubles in radio receivers during the Starfish and Checkmate bursts; the triggering of surge arresters on an airplane with a trailing-wire antenna during Starfish, Checkmate, and Bluegill; and the Oahu streetlight incident." (The "Oahu streetlight incident" refers to the 300 streetlights in Honolulu extinguished by the Starfish Prime detonation.)
Tightrope
The final test of Operation Fishbowl was detonated at 2130 (9:30 p.m. local Johnston Island time) on 3 November 1962 (the time and date was officially recorded as 0730 UTCCoordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
, 4 November 1962). It was launched on a Nike-Hercules missile, and detonated at a lower altitude than the other Fishbowl tests. Although it was officially one of the Operation Fishbowl tests, it is sometimes not listed among high-altitude nuclear tests because of its lower detonation altitude. The nuclear yield was reported in most official documents only as being less than 20 kilotons. One report by the U.S. federal government, however, reported the Tightrope test yield as 10 kilotons.
"At Johnston Island, there was an intense white flash. Even with high-density goggles, the burst was too bright to view, even for a few seconds. A distinct thermal pulse was also felt on the bare skin. A yellow-orange disc was formed, which transformed itself into a purple doughnut. A glowing purple cloud was faintly visible for a few minutes."
Seven rockets carrying scientific instrumentation were launched from Johnston Island in support of the Tightrope test, which was the final atmospheric test conducted by the United States.
See also
- Geomagnetic stormGeomagnetic stormA geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a disturbance in the interplanetary medium. A geomagnetic storm is a major component of space weather and provides the input for many other components of space weather...
- Starfish PrimeStarfish PrimeStarfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States of America on July 9, 1962, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Defense Atomic Support Agency ....
- The K ProjectThe K ProjectThe K Project, or also Operation K, was a series of five high altitude nuclear explosions, nuclear tests performed by the Soviet Union during the years 1961 and 1962. Their purpose was to test the performance of anti-ballistic missiles of the ABM System A and their resistance against nuclear blasts...
- Electromagnetic PulseElectromagnetic pulseAn electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
- ElectromagnetismElectromagnetismElectromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
- Operation ArgusOperation ArgusOperation Argus was a series of nuclear weapons tests and missile tests secretly conducted during August and September 1958 over the South Atlantic Ocean by the United States's Defense Nuclear Agency, in conjunction with the Explorer 4 space mission. Operation Argus was conducted between the...
- Hardtack TeakHardtack TeakHARDTACK-Teak was an exoatmospheric high altitude nuclear weapon test performed during Operation Hardtack I. It was launched from Johnston Island on a Redstone missile. On 1 August 1958, the 3.8 Mt shot detonated at an altitude of 76.8 km. Teak caused communications impairment over a...
- Operation DominicOperation Dominic I and IIOperation Dominic was a series of 105 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1962 by the United States. Those conducted in the Pacific are sometimes called Dominic I. The blasts in Nevada are known as Dominic II. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet...
- High-altitude nuclear explosion
- List of artificial radiation belts
External links
- Declassified U.S. Nuclear Film 65: Operation Dominic. Johnston Island. (Operation Fishbowl) YouTube video