[Popular Science of Chinese Military Technology] Behind the first explosion in space, why did the incredibly powerful space nuclear explosion fade out of the historical stage?

At the end of World War II, Nazi Germany first put ballistic missiles into practical use. Compared with other long-range attack methods, ballistic missiles have a high flight apex, strong power, and amazing payload, becoming one of the major threats to the Allies during World War II. After the end of World War II, ballistic missile technology was widely used in the field of space exploration. The Soviet Union then launched the first artificial satellite: Sputnik 1 in 1957. As communication and reconnaissance technology continues to be installed on satellite platforms, how to attack satellites has become a widely studied issue in various countries. The United States and the Soviet Union, as the two well-deserved poles in the Cold War, invested the most resources in the development of anti-satellite weapons and created countless engineering miracles.

First Sound in Space

On the night of August 1, 1958, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission detonated a nuclear warhead with a TNT equivalent of 3.88 million tons at an altitude of 76.8 kilometers at Johnston Atoll, turning day into night. Contrary to expectations, the defensive measures of the U.S. defense nuclear agency and related departments mainly focused on flash blindness and retinal burns, but in fact the main damage came from electromagnetic pulses: Samoa and Honolulu hundreds of kilometers away witnessed brilliant auroras, and the high-altitude nuclear weapons detonated severely affected the ionosphere, interrupting communications for 6 hours, Australia without power for 6 hours, and Hawaii without power for 2 hours.

The picture shows the explosion fireball of a high-altitude nuclear test (source of the Internet picture)

After this space nuclear explosion, the U.S. Air Force discovered the possible lethality and anti-satellite capabilities of ultra-high altitude nuclear weapons. Based on the experimental results in 1958, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission launched the "Starfish" test in July 1962, detonating a W49 nuclear warhead with a TNT equivalent of 1.4 million tons at an altitude of 31 kilometers on Johnston Atoll. The effect of the electromagnetic pulse far exceeded the expectations of the Atomic Energy Commission, causing Hawaii 1,450 kilometers away to be attacked by an electromagnetic pulse, seriously affecting municipal lighting and communications. The electromagnetic pulse and the radioactive dust that spread outside the atmosphere formed a huge radiation belt, which directly caused three low-orbit civilian satellites to stop working, and caused another three satellites to be disabled in the following months, becoming the first successful anti-satellite attack in history.

The picture shows the aurora produced by the starfish experiment (source of the Internet picture)

Based on the experience of high-altitude nuclear tests, the United States began to award Martin a contract in 1958 to develop the WS-199B "Bold Orion" missile, with the aim of developing strike capabilities against low-orbit satellites based on existing vehicles. On October 13, 1959, the U.S. Air Force successfully used the "Bold Orion" to simulate the interception of the Explorer 13 satellite, passing a distance of only 6.4 kilometers from the target. For an anti-satellite weapon that uses a nuclear warhead and relies on electromagnetic pulse effects and radiation to destroy the target, this distance is enough to complete the destruction of the target. For the technology of the 1950s, the "Bold Hunter" was already at a very high level. The ammunition was launched from a B-47 bomber, which could save missile fuel and could also be quickly deployed on existing platforms to strike newly launched satellites. However, the "Bold Hunter" has never been fully tested with a nuclear warhead. The risks and pollution of high-altitude nuclear explosions are obvious to all, and it is still very difficult to achieve reliable and low-collateral damage anti-satellite missions under the technical conditions of 1950-1960.

The picture shows the starfish experiment seen in Honolulu, 1,450 kilometers away, at night (Source: Internet picture)

Beyond the Iron Curtain

As the other pole of the Cold War, the United States' high-altitude nuclear test in 1962 attracted widespread attention from the Soviet Union. Long before the experiment began, Soviet research ships had entered Johnston Atoll and Samoa to collect data. On October 22, 1962, the Soviet Union detonated a nuclear weapon with a TNT equivalent of 300,000 tons at an altitude of 290 kilometers. Based on the experience of the United States' high-altitude nuclear test, Soviet scientists tested 570 kilometers of telephone lines to measure the damage caused by the electromagnetic pulse effect.

The picture shows the Soviet A-350 missile launch site (Source: Internet picture)

In 1956, the Soviet Union began to develop the A anti-ballistic missile system. In 1957, the system was first tested using the V-1000 interceptor. However, the supporting system of the V-1000 was delayed in completion, and the combat readiness of the missile was not ideal. It was not until 1961 that the first successful anti-ballistic missile interception test was carried out. As a successor, the A-35 system began to be developed in 1959, equipped with the A-350 interceptor, using a nuclear warhead for interception. The A-350 interceptor uses a nuclear warhead with a yield of 2-3 million tons as a means of killing. It can launch the warhead at Mach 4 to the exosphere at an altitude of 120 kilometers. It not only has the ability to intercept ballistic missiles, but also has the ability to strike low-orbit spacecraft. In 1967, the first test site of the A-35 system was deployed, and it also has the ability to intercept missiles and strike hostile spacecraft passing over Moscow. However, due to the serious collateral damage caused by nuclear warheads, carrying out strike missions against spacecraft in Moscow may cause severe electromagnetic pulses, seriously affecting production and life in the Moscow area.

Using nuclear weapons to attack satellites was a difficult attempt by humans in the early days of developing anti-satellite weapons. Compared with the various methods that have emerged since then, nuclear weapons against satellites have extremely terrible collateral damage and serious political consequences. In an era when microelectronics technology was not yet developed and kinetic warheads could not accurately hit targets, nuclear warheads were almost the only reliable option. With the continuous development of electronic technology, human anti-satellite weapons have finally entered the era of high-precision conventional killing.

About the author: Huang Tian, ​​a media worker, mainly engaged in military and science-related media work, has long studied the development of Cold War military technology

Produced by: Science Popularization China

Producer: Guangming Online Science Department

Author: Huang Tian (Caidongqing Science and Technology Innovation Team)

Review expert: Dong Hai (Chinese aerospace worker)

Planning: Jin He