Deciphering the secret buried for 50 years: Why did the US use nuclear bombs to destroy British satellites?

The explosion that destroyed Ariel-1

According to the EurAsian Times, on April 26, the UK celebrated the 60th anniversary of the deployment of the first satellite into orbit. Worth mentioning, this satellite was accidentally destroyed by the US - the country that was conducting nuclear bomb testing at that time.

The Ariel-1 satellite is manufactured in the form of a joint venture between the United States and the United Kingdom. London designed and manufactured the satellite's core system, and NASA sent it into orbit on a Thor-Delta rocket.

When NASA offered to let other countries launch their scientific instruments into space, British scientists proposed the Ariel-1 program to NASA in 1959. Details were easily passed. easily and quickly due to the close friendship between the two countries.

The following year, British scientists were allowed to begin developing the necessary instrumentation, while American engineers began developing satellites suitable for this device. Finally, Ariel-1 was launched on April 26, 1962, making Britain the third country to operate a satellite, after the Soviet Union and the United States.

Model of the Ariel-1 satellite at the Udvar-Hazy Aeronautics and Space Center.

The aim was to analyze the radiative effects of X-rays from the Sun on the Earth's upper atmosphere. According to NASA, the instruments on Ariel-1 are designed to "enhance our current understanding of the ionosphere," as well as its connection to the Sun.

Ariel-1 is equipped with a recorder to store data, a device to detect solar radiation, and various devices to determine how different particles in the ionosphere react, and change like that. to external stimuli from space, especially from the Sun.

On July 9, 1962, just a few weeks after Ariel-1 was put into orbit and began sending ionosphere data to Earth, British scientists were surprised when a series of radiation sensors on the Ariel-1 began to give unusually high, oddly high readings. They suspect the equipment on the satellite has been damaged or malfunctioned.

The Ariel-1 satellite then suddenly lost its signal, but this was no accident. According to the EurAsian Times, four days earlier, the US military had conducted a test of a 1.4-megaton nuclear weapon called Starfish-Prime in the high atmosphere within the framework of Project Fish Bowl.

This explosion created an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) strong enough to weaken radio communications around the world, even damaging street lights in Hawaii. It also created a strong radiation wave that destroyed several of Ariel-1's systems, including solar panels, thereby paralyzing the satellite.

The Ariel-1 satellite was launched into orbit by a Thor-Delta rocket.

Secrets hidden for 50 years

According to a report by BBC Future, the records related to the incident have been kept secret for up to 50 years. Although NASA promptly realized what had happened to the Ariel-1 satellite, the UK was not provided with specific information.

In fact, after an investigation, British officials soon learned what had happened to the Ariel-1 satellite. Viscount Hailsham, the contemporary speaker of the Senate of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, informed British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

In a two-page memo dated September 10, 1962, Mr Hailsham said: "Despite severe damage to the solar panels, the Ariel-1 satellite is not completely dead."

Light from the 1962 nuclear test seen from Honolulu, nearly 1,500km away.

According to this memorandum, the UK's financial loss in this project is still small compared to what the US has suffered, because Washington is the main contributor to the program's funds. Besides, Ariel-1 satellite has proven its importance in the field of research.

"Prior to the explosion, Ariel-1 transmitted thousands of hours of data, and it will take at least a year to analyze what it means," said Mr. Hailsham, noting that, in addition to the Of considerable scientific value, the short life span of the Ariel-1 satellite warns of the great danger of nuclear energy as a weapon, which must be prevented by a mutual treaty.

A year after the letter to the prime minister of Viscount Hailsham, the treaty banning the testing and proliferation of nuclear weapons between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union was signed in 1963. Not only that, but the prime minister personally. Macmillan sent a reply to Hailsham titled "Many thanks for the wonderful newsletter you sent". However, it was not until 50 years later that the letter was made public.

Viscount Hailsham died in 2001, aged 94.

The explosion of the Starfish Prime nuclear bomb not only devastated Ariel-1, it also contributed to the earlier-than-expected failure of Telstar - the world's first television satellite.

However, military planners are intrigued by the implications of the new weaponry following this incident. They studied whether spacecraft could be damaged by nuclear weapons or by electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons.

EMP weapons are designed for ground forces or aircraft to destroy enemy electronic systems in a certain area, or destroy their radar systems.

While national governments and many military strategists have expressed concern about EMP, military experts are skeptical about the technology.