science

14791 readers

60 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

rule #1: be kind

<--- rules currently under construction, see current pinned post.

2024-11-11

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

m3t00@lemmy.world

Joleee@lemmy.world

laverabe@lemmy.world

DeadPand@midwest.social

143

Starfish Prime - The US oopsie so big that the world agreed no more detonation of nuclear weapons should be done in space. (m.youtube.com)

submitted 4 months ago by 11111one11111@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For more on High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) from nuclear detonation here is the Department of Homeland Security report on the estimated affects if a hostile use of a HEMP was detonated now.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] A_A@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

"Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Defense Atomic Support Agency. It was launched from Johnston Atoll on July 9, 1962, and was the largest nuclear test conducted in outer space, and one of five conducted by the US in space."
"... these man-made radiation belts eventually caused six or more satellites to fail ..." (9 satellite failed in total)

~~"Estimates for (...) excess deaths (...) have likely amounted to between 10,000 and 100,000."~~
"Estimates for (...) overall excess death impact of thousands of above-ground tests have likely amounted to between 10,000 and 100,000."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime

[–] jaspersgroove@lemm.ee 31 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

That excess deaths number is the total for all above-ground nuclear bomb tests ever done combined.

[–] A_A@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

Yes, I cut the text so much that it became misleading. Thanks for the clarification.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Which, unfortunately, includes armies being ordered to march into blast zones while the mushroom cloud was still in the sky, so it's not a very useful metric.