twilyth
12-30-2010, 12:38 AM
If you were stoned and thought 'gee, I wonder what would happen if I detonated a thermo-nuclear device in space', people would understand - you're stoned.
Not sure what the military's excuse was back in 1962 though.
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/07/500x_500x_nukeinspace.jpg
Gizmodo: (http://gizmodo.com/5578740/this-space-nuke-explosion-was-the-ultimate-firecracker)
The recently declassified image was collected by Peter Kuran for his titillatingly titled documentary Nukes In Space. NPR has the full story here, but this is the juicy bit:
The plan was to send rockets hundreds of miles up, higher than the Earth's atmosphere, and then detonate nuclear weapons to see: a) If a bomb's radiation would make it harder to see what was up there (like incoming Russian missiles!); b) If an explosion would do any damage to objects nearby; c) If the Van Allen belts would move a blast down the bands to an earthly target (Moscow! for example); and - most peculiar - d) if a man-made explosion might "alter" the natural shape of the [Earth's magnetic] belts.
Not sure what the military's excuse was back in 1962 though.
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/07/500x_500x_nukeinspace.jpg
Gizmodo: (http://gizmodo.com/5578740/this-space-nuke-explosion-was-the-ultimate-firecracker)
The recently declassified image was collected by Peter Kuran for his titillatingly titled documentary Nukes In Space. NPR has the full story here, but this is the juicy bit:
The plan was to send rockets hundreds of miles up, higher than the Earth's atmosphere, and then detonate nuclear weapons to see: a) If a bomb's radiation would make it harder to see what was up there (like incoming Russian missiles!); b) If an explosion would do any damage to objects nearby; c) If the Van Allen belts would move a blast down the bands to an earthly target (Moscow! for example); and - most peculiar - d) if a man-made explosion might "alter" the natural shape of the [Earth's magnetic] belts.