Brings the end of World War II nuclear bombsbrought a great disaster, but given the bombs that came after that, we see that these bombs are actually very weak. The Tsar Bomb of the Soviet Union is a very good example of this. However, not only the size of the bomb is important, but also where it is thrown.

On the night of July 9, 1962, much of the Pacific Ocean was lit up, from Hawaii to New Zealand. It wasn’t a meteor or some other natural event that did it. of the US Starfish Prime This flare, which was the result of the high-altitude atomic bomb test, brought many problems. This event, known as Operation Fishbowl, also forced the US government to make a choice.

Operation Fishbowl was initiated by the United States, which wanted to respond to the USSR’s tests.

tsar bomb images

After the use of atomic bombs in World War II, both the US and the US until the 1960s. Soviet Union He was silent on this matter. Although atmospheric nuclear weapons tests were initially conducted, the tests were interrupted for a long time. This changed in 1961 with the testing of the Tsar Bomb, which remains the USSR’s most powerful nuclear weapon to this day.

Seeing that the USSR was at the forefront of nuclear armament, the US initiated some nuclear test projects. Operation Fishbowl was one of them. In this test, the United States would detonate a nuclear bomb in space and create an artificial radiation belt.

Radiation belts around the Earth had just been discovered.

When the dates reached 1958, a physicist named James A. Van Allen was no longer around today. “The Van Allen Generation” He discovered the radiation belts, which are considered radiation belts. The US Department of Defense thought that a nuclear bomb sent to this region could also provide military defense by creating an artificial radiation belt.

There were opponents to the explosion, but the US Department of Defense stated that controls were being carried out.

The area of ​​effect of the bomb would be very large, so the project was not hidden. In fact, it was the most watched experiment in history up to that time. in the media “rainbow bomb” Introduced as a blast, this explosion was criticized by the famous mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell, but few people took what Russell said seriously.

During this process, the US Department of Defense even said that they had done a risk analysis of the situation and nothing was wrong. “in a few days or weeks” They said it would go back to normal.

Starfish Prime’s nuclear explosion occurred, but the results were different than predicted.

The launch is located 1,287 kilometers west of Hawaii. Johnston Islandtook place in. Starfish PrimeIt launched around 11 p.m. and exploded about 13 minutes later, about 250 miles (400 km) above the Pacific Ocean.

1.45 megaton bomb, When it exploded, the clouds first experienced great relief. There was no sound at this point, only light. As the bomb’s particles began to enter the atmosphere, green and red rays of light began to form in the sky. These were the expected effects, but there were also effects that turned out differently than planned.

The explosion caused serious property damage in the area.

Hawaii’s power grid after the explosion electromagnetic pulse went under. In this wave, which spread in waves, the fuses in the region’s power poles blew and burglar alarms began to blare. When the phone lines go down Electrical appliances such as television and radio also did not work.

It also caused serious damage in space.

The explosion caused damage not only on the Earth’s surface, but also in space. Of the 21 satellites in orbit at the time, 7 were turned off and the Earth’s magnetic field It deviated 1/3 degree for 30 minutes.

The US Department of Defense’s claim that “it will take a few days for the area to return to normal” differs from estimates. It took months for this area to return to normal and the radiation belt to form as a result of the explosion for 10 years had continued to exist. This generation was even stronger than the Van Allen generations.

The US realized this was a mistake and made a choice.

The US government would continue to test nuclear bombs in space or continue to develop satellite technology. There was no way they could do both at the same time. That’s why the president John F Kennedy, In 1963 he signed the “Partial Nuclear Test Prevention Agreement” with the Soviet Union.

If we try to drop another bomb in this area, it will be in orbit around TV, phone, GPS, weather forecasting, internet, among others. We will also lose many important satellites. This will cause very difficult wounds in the global economy.