PROJECT ARGUS and the RAINBOW BOMBS

            UNITED STATES NUCLEAR DETONATIONS IN SPACE


   Around 1958, the significant implications of the Earth's magnetic
fields and radiation belts for future military activities were what
drew the attention of government physicists. Nicholas Christofilos, a
physicist working at the University of California's Livermore
Radiation Laboratory, developed techniques to harness and control the
energy released in hydorgen fusion reactions. Christofilos used
magnetic confinment fields. When the Soviets launched Sputnik I,
Christofilos decided that the earth's magnetic field could be used to
contain an artificial band of relativistic electrons. He speculated
that this artificial radiation belt could be made intense enough to
destroy satellites in orbit. The belt would produce worldwide radio
noise on the HF and VHF radio bands that carried the bulk of military
communications. By accurately calculating the site for an explosion
of a nuclear device, it's effects could be made to occur over a
specific target area. Christofilos urged that the government test his
postulates by exploding a nuclear device in space. Christofilos
superiors at Livermore placed his papers under top security control
and advised the President's Science Advisory group of the matter. The
resulting program became Project Argus.


                    PROJECT ARGUS TESTS

Explosion    Locale         Date            Yield       Altitude
---------------------------------------------------------------

Argus I    South Atlantic    Aug 27, 1958    1KT        200KM

Argus II   South Atlantic    Aug 30, 1958    1KT        250KM

Argus III  South Atlantic    Sept 6, 1958    1KT        500KM


                 POST-ARGUS TESTING ACTIONS
                 --------------------------
Starfish   Johnston Island   July, 9 1962  1.4KT        400KM


              SOVIET NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS IN SPACE
              ----------------------------------

USSR       Siberia            Oct 22, 1962  200KT       UNK

USSR       Siberia            Oct 28, 1962  800KT       UNK

USSR       Siberia            Nov 1,  1962   1+MT       UNK

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