Editing List of artificial radiation belts

{{short description|None}}

'''Artificial radiation belts''' are [[radiation belt]]s that have been created by [[high-altitude nuclear explosion]]s.<ref name="LA6405">{{cite report
  | last = Hoerlin | first = Herman
  | title = United States High-Altitude Test Experiences: A Review Emphasizing the Impact on the Environment
  | id = LA-6405
  | publisher = [[Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory]]
  | date = October 1976
  | url = https://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/docs1/00322994.pdf
  | access-date = 2009-10-25
  | doi = 10.2172/7122163
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090316054630/https://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/docs1/00322994.pdf
  | archive-date = 2009-03-16
  | url-status = live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite tech report
  | first = Wilmot N.
  | last = Hess
  | title = The Effects of High Altitude Explosions
  | publisher = [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]]
  | date = September 1964
  | url = http://www.futurescience.com/emp/Hess-Wilmot.pdf
  | id = NASA TN D-2402
  | access-date = 2009-10-24
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518101109/http://www.futurescience.com/emp/Hess-Wilmot.pdf
  | archive-date = 2015-05-18
  | url-status = live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
  | last = Zak
  | first = Anatoly
  | title = The K Project: Soviet Nuclear Tests in Space
  | journal = The Nonproliferation Review
  | volume = 13
  | issue = 1
 | date = March 2006
  | pages = 143–150
  | doi = 10.1080/10736700600861418
  | s2cid = 144900794
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite report
  | title = Operation ARGUS (Fact Sheet)
  | publisher = U.S. [[Defense Threat Reduction Agency]]
  | url = http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/factsheets/Argus.pdf
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121007081428/http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/factsheets/Argus.pdf
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-date = 2012-10-07
  | date = November 2006
  | access-date = 13 May 2015
}}</ref><ref>{{ cite tech report
  | title = Operation Argus: 1958
  | publisher = [[Defense Nuclear Agency]]
  | id = DNA 6039F
  | date = 30 April 1982
  | last1 = Jones | first1 = C. B.
  | last2 = Doyle | first2 = M. K.
  | last3 = Berkhouse | first3 = L. H.
  | last4 = Calhoun | first4 = F. S.
  | last5 = Martin | first5 = E. J.
  | url = http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/historical/1958%20-%20DNA%206039F%20-%20Operation%20ARGUS%20-%201958.pdf
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120130035125/http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/historical/1958%20-%20DNA%206039F%20-%20Operation%20ARGUS%20-%201958.pdf
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-date = 30 January 2012
  | access-date = 13 May 2015
}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: auto"
|+ '''List of Artificial Radiation Belts'''
! Explosion
! Location
! Date
! [[Nuclear weapon yield|Yield]] (approximate)
! Altitude (km)
! Nation of Origin
|-
| [[Hardtack Teak]] 
| [[Johnston Island]] ([[Pacific]])
| 1958-08-01
| [[TNT equivalent|3.8 megatons]] 
| 76.8 
| [[United States]] 
|-
| [[High-altitude nuclear explosion|Hardtack Orange]] 
| [[Johnston Island]] ([[Pacific]])
| 1958-08-12
| [[TNT equivalent|3.8 megatons]] 
| 43 
| [[United States]] 
|-
| [[Operation Argus|Argus I]] 
| [[South Atlantic]]
| 1958-08-27
| [[kiloton|1-2 kilotons]] 
| 200 
| [[United States]] 
|-
| [[Operation Argus|Argus II]] 
| [[South Atlantic]]
| 1958-08-30
| [[kiloton|1-2 kilotons]] 
| 256 
| [[United States]] 
|-
| [[Operation Argus|Argus III]] 
| [[South Atlantic]]
| 1958-09-06
| [[kiloton|1-2 kilotons]] 
| 539 
| [[United States]] 
|-
| [[Starfish Prime]]&nbsp; 
| [[Johnston Island]] ([[Pacific]])&nbsp;
| 1962-07-09&nbsp;
| [[TNT equivalent|1.4 megatons]] 
| 400 
| [[United States]] 
|-
| [[Soviet Project K nuclear tests|K-3]] 
| [[Kazakhstan]]
| 1962-10-22
| 300 [[kiloton]]s 
| 290
| [[Soviet Union|USSR]] 
|-
| [[Soviet Project K nuclear tests|K-4]] 
| [[Kazakhstan]]
| 1962-10-28
| 300 [[kiloton]]s 
| 150
| [[USSR]] 
|-
| [[Soviet Project K nuclear tests|K-5]] 
| [[Kazakhstan]]
| 1962-11-01
| 300 [[kiloton]]s 
| 59
| [[USSR]] 
|}

The table above only lists those [[high-altitude nuclear explosion]]s for which a reference exists in the open (unclassified) English-language scientific literature to persistent artificial radiation belts resulting from the explosion.

The [[Starfish Prime]] radiation belt had, by far, the greatest intensity and duration of any of the artificial radiation belts.<ref name="LA6405"/>

The Starfish Prime radiation belt damaged the United Kingdom Satellite [[Ariel 1]] and the United States satellites, [[Transit Research and Attitude Control|Traac]], [[Transit (satellite)#Other satellites|Transit&nbsp;4B]], [[Injun (satellite)|Injun&nbsp;I]] and [[Telstar|Telstar&nbsp;I]].&nbsp;  It also damaged the Soviet satellite [[Kosmos 5|Cosmos&nbsp;V]].&nbsp; All of these satellites failed completely within several months of the Starfish detonation.<ref name="LA6405"/>

Telstar&nbsp;I lasted the longest of the satellites damaged by the Starfish Prime radiation, with its complete failure occurring on February 21, 1963.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Telstar 1
| author = National Space Science Data Center
| url = https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1962-029A
| id = NSSDC 1962-029A
| access-date = 2009-10-25
}}</ref>

In [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory]] report LA-6405, Herman Hoerlin gave the following explanation of the history of the original Argus experiment and of how the nuclear detonations led to the development of artificial radiation belts.<ref name="LA6405"/>

{{blockquote|Before the discovery of the natural [[Van Allen radiation belt|Van Allen belts]] in 1958, [[Nicholas Christofilos|N. C. Christofilos]] had suggested in October 1957 that many observable geophysical effects could be produced by a nuclear explosion at high altitude in the upper atmosphere. This suggestion was reduced to practice with the sponsorship of the [[DARPA|Advanced Research Project Agency]] (ARPA) of the Department of Defense and under the overall direction of [[Herbert York]], who was then Chief Scientist of [[DARPA|ARPA]]. It required only four months from the time it was decided to proceed with the tests until the first bomb was exploded. The code name of the project was [[Operation Argus|Argus]]. Three events took place in the South Atlantic. ... Following these events, artificial belts of trapped radiation were observed.}}

{{blockquote|A general description of trapped radiation is as follows. Charged particles move in spirals around [[field line|magnetic-field lines]]. The pitch angle (the angle between the direction of the motion of the particle and direction of the field line) has a low value at the equator and increases while the particle moves down a field line in the direction where the [[Earth's magnetic field|magnetic field]] strength increases. When the pitch angle becomes 90 degrees, the particle must move in the other direction, up the field lines, until the process repeats itself at the other end. The particle is continuously reflected at the two ''[[magnetic mirror|mirror]]'' points &mdash; it is trapped in the field. Because of the magnetic field gradient and the centrifugal force acting on particles moving around bend field lines, the particles also drift around the earth, electrons towards the east. Thus, they form a shell around the earth similar in shape to the surface formed by a field line rotated around the magnetic [[dipole]] axis.}}

[[Image:Art-radiationbelts.gif|center|409px|thumb|Illustration of the motion of a charged particle trapped in the Earth's magnetic field including its [[Magnetic mirror point]].]]

In 2010, the United States [[Defense Threat Reduction Agency]] issued a report that had been written in support of the United States Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from [[Nuclear electromagnetic pulse|Electromagnetic Pulse]] Attack.  The report, entitled "Collateral Damage to Satellites from an EMP Attack," discusses in great detail the historical events that caused artificial radiation belts and their effects on many satellites that were then in orbit.  The same report also projects the effects of one or more present-day high-altitude nuclear explosions upon the formation of artificial radiation belts and the probable resulting  effects on satellites that are currently in orbit.<ref name="DTRA-IR-10-22">{{cite tech report
| last1 = Conrad | first1 = Edward E.
| last2 = Gurtman | first2 = Gerald A.
| last3 = Kweder | first3 = Glenn
| last4 = Mandell | first4 = Myron J.
| last5 = White | first5 = Willard W.
| title = Collateral Damage to Satellites from an EMP Attack
| id = DTRA-IR-10-22
| publisher = Defense Threat Reduction Agency
| date = August 2010
| url = http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA531197&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
| access-date = 2011-06-19
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111112103439/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA531197&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
| archive-date = 2011-11-12
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Christofilos effect]]
* [[Operation Argus]]
* [[Hardtack Teak]]
* [[Outer Space Treaty]]
* [[Soviet Project K nuclear tests]]
* [[Starfish Prime]]
* [[Operation Fishbowl]]
* [[Van Allen radiation belt]]
* [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]]
* [[Lists of environmental topics]]
* [[Nicholas Christofilos]]
* {{slink|Aurora#Conjugate auroras}}

==References==

<references/>

== External links ==
* Wm. Robert Johnston. [http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/hane.html High-altitude nuclear explosions]
* {{USGovernment}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Artificial radiation belts}}
[[Category:Exoatmospheric nuclear weapons testing]]
[[Category:Earth]]
[[Category:Nuclear technology-related lists]]