The US made a splash in May 1958 with the idea of ​​a project. This project Detonating an atomic bomb on the moon It was on.

What about the US? Why was he referring to something like that?

The United States launched a secret scientific investigation codenamed Project: A119.

The goal was to determine the effects of a nuclear explosion on the moon and to find out what such an explosion would look like from Earth. Before starting this project, the Air Force said, “If an atomic bomb explodes on the moon, to wonder what will happen next scientists reach.

Because the Air Force is aware of a nuclear explosion on the moon. To make sure it is visible from EarthHe wanted it. With this project they wanted to show the world that the US had an advantage over the Soviet Union.

Leonard Reiffel headed this research team. Reiffel’s research team also included a graduate student from the University of Chicago. This student It was Carl Sagan.

Sagan was instructed to make the necessary calculations, and after working on them for almost a year, all the researchers got to work They submitted their report in June 1959.

However, Project A119 did not come to fruition.

In fact, this project had many supporters, but there were also some significant risks associated with exploding the moon with thermonuclear weapons. For example, the explosion will change the surface of the moon forever A huge crater would be left behind.

This explosion again great response from the audience He would accept it too. But despite all this, scientists have also seen some potential benefits. This bombardment helped reveal uncertainties about the moon’s internal structure and chemistry.

But as we said: the US leave the project. But he didn’t know that the Soviets were conducting similar investigations during the same period. The Soviets had set the same goal with the E-4 Project. Fortunately, the Soviets eventually gave up on these ideas and the moon narrowly escaped destruction.

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