1962

Starfish Prime Test

The Air Force had conducted extensive research on the damaging effects of space radiation on earth orbiting satellites. This research began shortly after the discovery of the earth radiation belts, and was particularly intensive during the high altitude nuclear detonations of 1958 and 1962. The latter of these tests in 1962, called the Starfish Prime test, 250 miles up in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean created an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) strong enough to disrupt global radio communications and even blow out streetlights on the ground in Hawaii. It also created a temporary radiation belt around the Earth and fried Ariel-1, the UK’s first satellite.