Starfish Prime
|
Nuclear test Starfish Prime
|
|
|---|---|
 The upper atmosphere starfish prime explosion, seen from Honolulu , Hawaii |
|
| information | |
| nation |
 United States
|
| Test series | Operation Dominic |
| Test location | Johnston Atoll |
| date | July 9, 1962 9:00:09 AM UTC |
| Test type | Highly atmospheric test |
| Test height | 400 km |
| Weapon type | W-49 (hydrogen bomb) |
| Explosive power | 1450 kT |
| target | Investigation of the EMP |
Starfish Prime was the name of a nuclear weapons test carried out by the United States as part of Operation Fishbowl within Operation Dominic . Starfish Prime exploded on July 9, 1962 with an explosive force of 1450 kT TNT equivalent at an altitude of 400 km. To carry out the test, a Thor missile with a nuclear warhead was launched from Johnston Atoll , which is 1150 km southwest of Hawaii in the Pacific .
Starfish Prime was an altitude test of the W-49 warhead designed to study the effects of the electromagnetic pulse .
The test produced aurora-like luminous phenomena over Hawaii and Kwajalein . This artificial aurora lasted seven minutes. As a result, an electromagnetic pulse paralyzed electronic devices in a large area on the earth's surface below the explosion. The effects could still be felt on Oahu , Hawaii, 1300 km away . The electromagnetic pulse triggered by Starfish Prime was far stronger than expected, so that many of the measuring devices used failed. In Hawaii, about 1445 km away, about 300 street lights failed, which in turn triggered several burglar alarms. Due to the failure of a directional antenna , the telephone connections between Kauai and the other Hawaiian Islands were temporarily interrupted. This made the phenomenon of the nuclear electromagnetic pulse known to a wider public.
Released X-rays led to several years detectable ionization of the magnetosphere , which seven satellites were inoperable, including the first civilian communications satellite Telstar and the first British satellite , Ariel 1 .
Starfish Prime was a repeat of the Starfish test that was scheduled to be performed on June 20, 1962. However, its rocket exploded at a height of 9 km without a nuclear reaction, with parts of Sand Island being contaminated with plutonium .
Web links
- Detailed information in nuclearweaponarchive.org (English)
- Starfish Prime Test Interim and Fishbowl Auroral Sequences. Historical Test Film Library, United States Department of Energy
- How the Starfish Prime Nuclear Bomb Worked - blowing up the radiation belts for science featuring 'Declassified US Nuclear Test Film # 62'
- F. Narin: A 'Quick Look' at the Technical Results of Starfish Prime - Sanitized Version. (PDF; 2 MB) Los Alamos Scientific Lab, Albuquerque; Retrieved July 20, 2009
- Richard L. Wakefield: Measurement of time interval from electromagnetic signal received in C-130 aircraft, 753 nautical miles (1.395 km) from burst, at 11 degrees 16 minutes North, 115 degrees 7 minutes West, 24,750 feet . Full report on the EMP generated by Starfish Prime
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charles N. Vittitoe: Did the high-altitude EMP Cause the Hawaiian Streetlight Incident? (PDF; 978 kB) June 1989, accessed on June 15, 2013 .
- ↑ Ralph D. Lorenz, David Michael Harland: Space Systems Failures: Disasters and Rescues of Satellites, Rocket and Space Probes . Springer 2005, ISBN 0-387-21519-0 , p. 266
- ↑ James M. Early: Telstar I - Dawn of a New Age . Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation. Retrieved Oct. 17, 2012
- ^ 50 Years Ago, Communications Became Global - interview with Walter Brown of Bell Labs . National Public Radio. Retrieved October 17, 2012
- ^ Space bomb and Ariel: a dismaying outcome . In: New Scientist . No. 301 , 23 August 1962, pp. 388-389 .
- ^ Karl Smallwood: That Time the US Accidentally Nuked Britain's First Satellite. In: Gizmomdo. April 15, 2015, accessed July 29, 2015 .
- ↑ Michael Light: 100 Suns: 1945–1962 . Knop, New York 2003, ISBN 1-4000-4113-9 .
Coordinates: 16 ° 28 ′ 0 ″ N , 169 ° 38 ′ 0 ″ W.