a very scary light show
March 30, 2011 10:05 PM   Subscribe

Exploding H-Bombs In Space
posted by philip-random (33 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Neat but repeat. -- cortex



 
I know there's a lot of debate, but look, Space deserved this. This was the only way to stop the Space War. Never forget Tunguska!
posted by gc at 10:16 PM on March 30, 2011 [15 favorites]


~0:52 looks like something out of science fiction. ~1:17 reminds me of the Iron Giant missing the battleship. Seriously scary.

Never forget Tunguska!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
posted by obiwanwasabi at 10:17 PM on March 30, 2011 [7 favorites]


Awesome
posted by wierdo at 10:20 PM on March 30, 2011


There is something about the narrator that strikes me as hilarious. I can't put my finger on it. But yeah, this is neat. I like the part about people relaxing on rooftops with drinks, waiting for the show.

I know there's a lot of debate, but look, Space deserved this. This was the only way to stop the Space War. Never forget Tunguska!

To quote Pliny the Elder, Space is just a big, mostly-empty wuss.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 10:20 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wait, they did this to find out "what would happen" if you explode a hydrogen bomb in outer space? Why? What were they thinking might happen? Were any of the options "total catastrophe", massive radiation cloud, global tumor? So was what happened -- the light show and all that -- the expected outcome? I mean, the clip was interesting, but I am curious what the outcome was -- maybe they are still waiting for it to all come down.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 10:24 PM on March 30, 2011


Kids. Big kids.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:26 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]


Robert Krulwich on the green and the blue all in one day...I'm in nerd heaven. great find.
posted by aloiv2 at 10:31 PM on March 30, 2011


I prefer Pigs in Space.
posted by peeedro at 10:33 PM on March 30, 2011 [1 favorite]


What wasn't said about the test known as Starfish Prime was that it unleashed a massive electromagnetic pulse:
Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse 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 1,445 kilometres (898 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link. The EMP-damaged microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:37 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]


Wait, they did this to find out "what would happen" if you explode a hydrogen bomb in outer space?

More precisely, to get a better handle on the range and severity of the effects nuclear explosions in space would have on radio communications and electronic equipment in the event of a nuclear war. (Also, to figure out what kind of radiation belts these explosions might create; see below.) Apparently it was difficult to predict these effects precisely from ground-based explosions.

Maybe they are still waiting for it to all come down.

I'd expect that that's not a major concern at this point. However, the explosion created an artificial radiation belt -- like a Van Allen belt, but not natural -- which, over the months following the detonation, disabled a number of satellites. This belt took a couple of years to dissipate.
posted by Serf at 10:46 PM on March 30, 2011 [3 favorites]


Wait, they did this to find out "what would happen" if you explode a hydrogen bomb in outer space? Why? What were they thinking might happen? Were any of the options "total catastrophe", massive radiation cloud, global tumor? So was what happened -- the light show and all that -- the expected outcome? I mean, the clip was interesting, but I am curious what the outcome was -- maybe they are still waiting for it to all come down.

but back then things like radiation exposure, smoking and such were good for you. It's only the growth of both the nanny state and tumors that have led us to believe otherwise.
posted by the noob at 10:50 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]


Double?
posted by IvoShandor at 10:53 PM on March 30, 2011


What wasn't said about the test known as Starfish Prime was that it unleashed a massive electromagnetic pulse:

... which would have a much different effect today - there were essentially no computers in the modern sense in 1962, when that test occurred. The first silicon transistor had only been created about 8 years earlier; neither the Cray, the PDP-11, nor the Intel 8008 would exist for several more years.

Today, the voltage surge would probably knock out every single computer (and most phones...) in Hawaii.
posted by rkent at 11:00 PM on March 30, 2011


I never knew we actually blew one up in space. 0.0 Thanks for sharing! :D

"The light show you never want to see again"

Honestly, I think a nuke is probably the most beautiful, but most terrible, thing to witness.
posted by NotSoSiniSter at 11:06 PM on March 30, 2011


Definitely a double, but still impressive. (Like they said at Nagasaki after Hiroshima.)
posted by twoleftfeet at 11:09 PM on March 30, 2011


Yeah, probably a double ... but props should go to TomMelee for this post in a question I asked a few hours ago. One of the YouTube sidelinks was Exploding H-Bombs.
posted by philip-random at 11:14 PM on March 30, 2011


Wait, they did this to find out "what would happen" if you explode a hydrogen bomb in outer space? Why

Maybe they did this in part to show the Reds what for after their previous years test which set off the most powerful nuclear weapon of all time. I think on some level it becomes almost pure theatrics 'See!? See!? Look at that!' which was certainly one of the dynamics at play during the cold war.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:15 PM on March 30, 2011


Cool, what's "G-13" do?
posted by alex_skazat at 11:15 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]


Wait, they did this to find out "what would happen" if you explode a hydrogen bomb in outer space? Why

I think it's like Special FX guys in the movie biz. At some point you stop caring about the actual movie (good or bad, righteous or stupid) and just set off the coolest, biggest explosions money can buy. And take pictures.
posted by philip-random at 11:21 PM on March 30, 2011


Nuke it in orbit. It's the only way to make sure.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:22 PM on March 30, 2011 [2 favorites]


Edward Teller had this idea that you might have to detonate an H-bomb in outer space to prevent an asteroid collision.
posted by twoleftfeet at 11:24 PM on March 30, 2011


I think it's like Special FX guys in the movie biz. At some point you stop caring about the actual movie (good or bad, righteous or stupid) and just set off the coolest, biggest explosions money can buy.

On an utterly unrelated note they just ran the Mythbusters Supersized special here last night.....

wowie! look at them rockets go! i miss the Space Age
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 12:17 AM on March 31, 2011


Mr. Show - Blow Up The Moon
posted by Optamystic at 12:25 AM on March 31, 2011


Wait, they did this to find out "what would happen" if you explode a hydrogen bomb in outer space?

Remember, they weren't entirely sure what would happen when they detonated the very first nuclear bomb. I seem to recall reading somewhere that there was a genuine concern about actually lighting the entire atmosphere on fire, but they did it anyway. Never underestimate the willingness of Generals to gamble with everyone's lives.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 12:52 AM on March 31, 2011


"Douglas Launch Crew" -- I can't help thinking that might be related to Fred MacMurray's lead character on My Three Sons (1960-72): Aerospace engineer Steven Douglas. There were several episodes of that show centering around missile launches.

(It's obviously got everything to do with this, but still.)
posted by Sys Rq at 1:10 AM on March 31, 2011


Silly NPR, you're not allowed to do video...
posted by azarbayejani at 1:23 AM on March 31, 2011


Now bear in mind the Orion fans would have us detonating hundreds of nukes in the upper atmosphere. Normally I mock the lack of knowledge involved in anti-nuclear hysteria, but in that case...yeah, I'll stand shoulder to shoulder with the Greens when it comes to Orion.
posted by happyroach at 2:41 AM on March 31, 2011


Were any superheroes created that day? This is probably someone's origin story.
posted by Maaik at 3:45 AM on March 31, 2011


Wait, they did this to find out "what would happen" if you explode a hydrogen bomb in outer space? Why?

Because it was actually a pretty decent question. Up to that point, all nuclear tests had been conducted inside the atmosphere, and a lot of the actual destructive power of an explosion, any explosion, is the shock wave throwing stuff around. We've all seen the videos of tests at the Pacific Proving Grounds, but note that most of what you're seeing is water.

Setting one off outside the atmosphere gives one an opportunity to observe the blast without that, which not only gives a better opportunity to evaluate the destructive potential of the weapon, but also to get a closer view at what actually happens, there being no atmosphere, rock, or water in the way.

It may not have been the most responsible thing we've ever done--though it's certainly far from the worst--but from a purely scientific perspective, it's still interesting.
posted by valkyryn at 3:46 AM on March 31, 2011


Kids. Big kids.

they'll put their eyes out with those things.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 4:45 AM on March 31, 2011 [2 favorites]


That very first control room scene with the two guys in Hawaiian-esque gear was so Gilligan's Islandish that I expected them to be wearing coconut headphones and talking into tin cans.
posted by elizardbits at 5:00 AM on March 31, 2011 [2 favorites]


Wow, the way they played with those nukes back then is downright frightening.
posted by zzazazz at 6:06 AM on March 31, 2011


I had a visionary architecture teacher named William Katavolos who came up with the idea of exploding a cathedral in space. The idea is that you send up a seed package that, when it arrives at some orbital location where you want to build a cathedral, explodes. The forces push a huge glob of molten material in all directions, which as it expands cools. At some point the material slows and hardens into interconnected webs of crystals.

I loved this idea, and in my idealistic youth, the way I imagined it is that it would be created as a monument to world peace. We would take all the bombs and send them up for a light show that could be seen over the entire planet.
posted by bitslayer at 6:52 AM on March 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


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