U.S. Planned Nuclear Blast on the Moon (692 hits)
Category: NewsRating: 0.6 on 15 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Greg Webb <trunks_gw.at.yahoo.com> (View user info) at 2005-10-27 15:20:49 EDT
The United States weighed a plan to detonate a nuclear bomb on the moon as a show of military and technical strength during the feverish post-Sputnik days of the Cold War, according to a physicist involved in the plan.
Physicist Leonard Reiffel, 72, said Monday that he was in charge of a highly classified study of the blast's visibility, its possible scientific benefits and its effects on the moon's surface.
His research got under way in 1958, sponsored by the Air Force special weapons center in Albuquerque and involved up to 10 people on his staff, including Carl Sagan, then a young astronomer and later the popularizer of science.
"The foremost intent was to impress the world with the prowess of the United States," Reiffel said.
"It was a PR device, without question, in the minds of the people from the Air Force."
The nuclear flash would have been widely visible from Earth, he said, and would have produced a lunar crater and dust cloud that, because of the moon's lack of atmosphere, would have flown out in all directions rather than in the usual mushroom shape.
He said the project ended when Air Force officials decided its risks outweighed its benefits. A spokesman said the Air Force would not comment until it could review records.
Reiffel said the Air Force plan was seen as a way to bolster national confidence after the Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit in October 1957.
The United States had a hard time catching up, exploding many rockets and succeeding in orbiting a satellite in January 1958 that weighed just 101/2 pounds. National esteem was low for years, because much of the world assumed that the Soviets could launch a nuclear weapon at the United States but that the U.S. was unable to reply.
Reiffel said his research was done at the Armour Research Foundation in Chicago, which did work for the Air Force and is now part of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He was the head of physics for the foundation and also led the secret study.
Reiffel made his role in the project public in a letter in the May 4 issue of the journal Nature. The letter addressed the bomb study and Sagan's role. He said he had Sagan investigate whether the blast could be used to identify the presence of organic molecules on the moon.
In 1959, the Soviet Union became the first nation to crash a probe into the moon. After several failures, the United States did so in 1962.
"As these things go, this was small," Reiffel said of the bomb project. "It was less than a year and never got to the point of operational planning. We showed what some of the effects might be.
"But the real argument we made, and others made behind closed doors, was that there was no point in ruining the pristine environment of the moon. There were other ways to impress the public that we were not about to be overwhelmed by the Russians," he said.
User Reviews
Submitted by CLAIRE1 (user info) at 2005-10-28 07:45:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Busted!
Submitted by MrSparkle847 (user info) at 2005-10-28 07:41:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/science/051600sci-us-nuke.html
"May 16, 2000 - U.S. Planned Nuclear Blast on the Moon, Physicist Says"
-1 for cut/paste
-1 for 5-year-old article
Submitted by ozzy (user info) at 2005-10-28 07:36:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Cut & paste = auto negative rating.
No minus 2 though, because it was so absurd it was actually kinda funny.
Submitted by b0bbieb0b (user info) at 2005-10-28 07:28:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Oooh. Aaaah. This would be better than fireworks by a long shot. Can we still do it?
Minus 1 for misdirected outrage.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2005-10-28 07:18:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2005-10-28 00:21:38 (#)
Ranking: 2
You just gotta wonder what some of these fucking idiots are THINKING!
"Smith, we need a way to show the world that the United States is a powerful nation and is fit to be the leader of the free world....any ideas?"
"Well, Sir, I was thinking we might feed, clothe, and shelter starving nations and carry our message of goodwill to people that need it most and..."
"Yes, yes...that's nice, Smith. What about you, Professor DOOM? What did you have in mind?"
"I was thinking we could explode a nuclear weapon on the moon and see what happens. Our studies show that long term climatological and oceanographic effects might result here on earth, but the precise effects are unknown at this time. This will surely cement our place as a fit world leader!"
"By God! I think you're onto something, Professor! Smith, you're FIRED! Now somebody get me my coffee and the plans for that HAARP project that blasts the atmosphere with radiation! ........What?..........WHAT IS THIS!?!?!.........ANOTHER REPORT ON THE EFFECTS OF FOSSIL FUELS ON GLOBAL WARMING???...........DO I LOOK LIKE I'VE GOT TIME FOR THIS SHIT??? YOU'RE FIRED TOO!!! WHERE'S SMITH???.........WHERE'S MY GODDAMN COFFEE???"
"Sir, you just fired Smith...."
"WELL GOOD GOD, MAN, GET HIM BACK HERE!!! CAN'T YOU SEE WE'VE GOT A MOON TO BLOW UP!?!?!" """
awesome
Submitted by SammySam (user info) at 2005-10-28 00:59:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 just for this comment.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2005-10-28 00:21:38 (#)
Ranking: 2
"Smith, you're FIRED! Now somebody get me my coffee and the plans for that HAARP project that blasts the atmosphere with radiation! ........What?..........WHAT IS THIS!?!?!.........ANOTHER REPORT ON THE EFFECTS OF FOSSIL FUELS ON GLOBAL WARMING???...........DO I LOOK LIKE I'VE GOT TIME FOR THIS SHIT??? YOU'RE FIRED TOO!!! WHERE'S SMITH???.........WHERE'S MY GODDAMN COFFEE???"
"Sir, you just fired Smith...."
"WELL GOOD GOD, MAN, GET HIM BACK HERE!!! CAN'T YOU SEE WE'VE GOT A MOON TO BLOW UP!?!?!"
Submitted by williamson (user info) at 2005-10-28 00:47:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Cool.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2005-10-28 00:21:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You just gotta wonder what some of these fucking idiots are THINKING!
"Smith, we need a way to show the world that the United States is a powerful nation and is fit to be the leader of the free world....any ideas?"
"Well, Sir, I was thinking we might feed, clothe, and shelter starving nations and carry our message of goodwill to people that need it most and..."
"Yes, yes...that's nice, Smith. What about you, Professor DOOM? What did you have in mind?"
"I was thinking we could explode a nuclear weapon on the moon and see what happens. Our studies show that long term climatological and oceanographic effects might result here on earth, but the precise effects are unknown at this time. This will surely cement our place as a fit world leader!"
"By God! I think you're onto something, Professor! Smith, you're FIRED! Now somebody get me my coffee and the plans for that HAARP project that blasts the atmosphere with radiation! ........What?..........WHAT IS THIS!?!?!.........ANOTHER REPORT ON THE EFFECTS OF FOSSIL FUELS ON GLOBAL WARMING???...........DO I LOOK LIKE I'VE GOT TIME FOR THIS SHIT??? YOU'RE FIRED TOO!!! WHERE'S SMITH???.........WHERE'S MY GODDAMN COFFEE???"
"Sir, you just fired Smith...."
"WELL GOOD GOD, MAN, GET HIM BACK HERE!!! CAN'T YOU SEE WE'VE GOT A MOON TO BLOW UP!?!?!"
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-10-27 23:58:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
This would be a zero, but quite frankly, I do not like you, and am rating accordingly.
Silly? Yep.
A waste of my time? Definitely.
Petty? Hell yes.
Somehow satisfying despite all that? Most certainly.
I would suggest that you have unprotected intercourse with an AIDS-infested prostitute who was also the proud owner of some very interesting yet unidentified sores on her genitalia, but let's face it- we both know that you could not get laid if you had a Stingray full of hundred dollar bills. Which you don't. So I will instead suggest that you shove a rotten pineapple up your ass and let it marinate for a week or so.
Submitted by Sterculius (user info) at 2005-10-27 23:07:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
USA. Our motto: We blow shit up.
+2 for teaching me something.
I found it interesting that one of the reasons they decided not to detonate a bomb on the moon was because it would ruin its image. I didn't know there were environmentalists that long ago.
Submitted by turbo3000 (user info) at 2005-10-27 18:11:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Kill the moon!
Submitted by userpete86 (user info) at 2005-10-27 16:55:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
So that's how they fake the news...
Submitted by Average_Dan (user info) at 2005-10-27 15:57:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Eh...
Thanks for the read?
Submitted by Brenden (user info) at 2005-10-27 15:48:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What a dumb bunch of goverment scientists...who the hell whould ever think that blowing up the moon? "The risks outweighed the benefits" (and what kind of benefits who that give)
Submitted by firefly (user info) at 2005-10-27 15:35:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
interesting