Science: Bombs on High

Teak was the name of the first of two high-altitude H-bombs set off by the U.S. over the Pacific near Johnston Island last summer. Lifted 40 miles above the earth by a Redstone missile, the bomb was detonated a few minutes before midnight. Out of the blackness came a fireball that grew to eleven miles in width in less than half a second and could be seen in Hawaii, 700 miles to the northeast. Its multicolored aurora was observed 3,000 miles away in Samoa. Some nights later a similar device, called Orange, was fired from 20 miles up.

Finally releasing details last week, the Department of Defense and the AEC called Teak and Orange “by far the most spectacular shots ever fired by the U.S.” They were also the first megaton (i.e., equivalent to 1,000,000 tons of TNT) bombs ever exploded by the U.S. in the stratosphere.

The results were awesome. One objective was to measure the capacity of the highenergy, high-altitude explosions to cause “eclipse blindness”—lesions of the retina, so called because they have most often happened to people who watch eclipses of the sun without protecting their eyes. Rabbits were chosen as the test animals. AEC scientists found that an explosion the size and height of Teak delivers its thermal energy in less time than a rabbit (or a man) can blink. Said the report grimly: “Retinal burns were produced in the rabbits at distances up to 300 nautical miles.” This tended to support earlier Army research indicating that an atomic fireball bursting over a battlefield at night could produce mass blindness in soldiers scattered over a vast area.

Data on the electromagnetic effects of the blasts showed that the upper atmosphere was so disturbed by ionizing radiation “that some radio waves were absorbed or scattered” for hours afterward. Result: communications were upset or blacked out over an area “at least” 3,000 miles in diameter. Obvious conclusion: a megaton bomb exploded high overhead just ahead of an all-out missile attack could disrupt vital defense communications for a few crucial hours.

A few days later, the House Space Committee released testimony on the even wider possibilities suggested by Project Argus—the series of bombs exploded late last summer 300 miles above the South Atlantic that sent a shell of charged particles racing round the world. A nuclear bomb exploded over the Indian Ocean, Pentagon officials told the committee, could theoretically disrupt radio communications in Moscow, some 7,000 miles away. Similarly, a blast set off high over the tip of South America could interfere with communications in the Washington area. But to make such interference effective, bombs much larger than Project Argus’ relatively small 1.5 kiloton bombs would be required.