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2024-11-11

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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 [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 4 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

[–] [email protected] 4 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.

[–] [email protected] 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

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