5 Strangest Experiments With Nuclear Weapons
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In 1958, Cold War tensions were simmering, and the Soviets appeared to be winning the all-important space race, thanks to their successful launch of Sputnik 1 the previous year.
Fearful of a demoralized public in the face of Soviet success, the United States government responded with a program named ‘A Study of Lunar Research Flights,’ AKA ‘Project A119’.
This project, which remained top secret and highly guarded by the government and military for many years, sought to make a statement -- an unprecedented demonstration of power that the world would never forget.
The plan was to detonate a nuclear device on the surface of the moon.
While bombing the moon would have answered some astro geological and astronomical questions which puzzled NASA at the time, the main goal was to create an explosion so immense that it could be perceived by the naked human eye all the way from Earth, thereby demonstrating the might of the American nuclear and space programs.
Despite the brutal nature of this gesture, precision would be needed; it was essential that the bomb did not detonate inside an existing crater, or else Earth’s view of it would be obscured.
Some concerns were raised, such as the formation of nuclear fallout on the moon, which would render it uninhabitable should mankind wish to colonize it in the near future. Another potential issue was that the execution of this plan may have led to the widespread militarization of space, further escalating geopolitical tensions. A large enough explosion may even have directed debris toward Earth.
Amongst the small team assembled to put the plan into action was a young Carl Sagan, who was tasked with predicting the effects of a nuclear explosion in a low-gravity vacuum.
It was decided that a conventional hydrogen bomb would have been too heavy to propel, so a 1.7-kiloton W25 missile was chosen. The W25 was to detonate on the shadowed portion of the moon facing Earth, creating a cloud of dust that would catch the sun’s light and therefore be visible.
Development moved quickly, and the launch was predicted to be ready by the following year.
Ultimately, the launch of the W25 never went ahead, with one statement claiming that “Air Force officials decided its risks outweighed its benefits.” NASA and the government instead decided to focus on landing a man on the moon, which they knew would be a more popular accomplishment with the people.
Documents pertaining to Project A119 were revealed following a freedom of information request in 1999, but the US government has never formally acknowledged its involvement. A British nuclear historian stated years later that, quote, "had they gone ahead, we would never have had the romantic image of Neil Armstrong taking 'one giant leap for mankind.'"
