Document Details

OPERATION HARDTACK - PROJECT 6.5: RADAR DETERMINATION OF FIREBALL PHENOMENA (DELETED)

BAKER, E [UNITED STATES ARMY - DEPARTMENT OF]; VIARS, T [UNITED STATES ARMY - DEPARTMENT OF]; MCAFEE, W S [UNITED STATES ARMY - DEPARTMENT OF]; BALTON, I A [UNITED STATES ARMY - DEPARTMENT OF]

HARDTACK I OPERATION; NUCLEAR FIREBALLS; CACTUS EVENT; FIR EVENT; KOA EVENT; BUTTERNUT EVENT; WAHOO EVENT; HOLLY EVENT; TEAK EVENT; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; MEASURING METHODS

Location - DOE/NNSA NUCLEAR TESTING ARCHIVE Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - NTA@NV.DOE.GOV

REPORT

1960 May 16

Sanitized

0070

NV0051042

WT1639EX

UNITED STATES ARMY - DEPARTMENT OF

1994 Aug 26

2003 Sep 18

THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT WERE TO INVESTIGATE THE NATURE OF RADAR ECHOES FROM THE FIREBALL PRODUCED BY ATOMIC DETONATIONS, AND TO DETER MINE THE FEASIBILITY OF FINDING GROUND ZERO, HEIGHT OF BURST, AND YIEL D BY MEANS OF RADAR ECHOES. THE OPERATIONS OF THIS PROJECT WERE CONDU CTED ON ENIWETOK AND RONGELAP ATOLLS FOR THE ENIWETOK TESTS, USING RAD AR SETS AN/MPG-1 AND SCR-584 (9,000 AND 2,900 MC, RESPECTIVELY), AND O N U.S. NAVY DESTROYERS FOR THE JOHNSTON ISLAND TESTS USING RADAR SET S RB (200MC). PHOTOS WERE TAKEN OF THE RADARSCOPE PRESENTATIONS. DATA WAS OBTAINED FOR SHOTS CACTUS, FIR, BUTTERNUT, KOA, WAHOO, HOLLY, AND TEAK. DATA ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED ON A MAGNIFYING VIEWER WITH MOVABLE CROSSHAIRS ACCURATE TO 0.001 INCH. ACTUAL PHOTOS OF THE PHYSICAL EVENT WERE STUDIED SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE TIME-EQUIVALENT SCOPE PHOTOS. THI S REPORT PRESENTS REPRESENTATIVE PHOTOS FOR EACH OF THE SHOTS THAT YIE LDED DATA. THE B-AND PPI-SCOPE DISPLAYS ESTABLISHED IDENTIFYING CHARA CTERISTICS OF A NUCLEAR DETONATION ACCORDING TO FOUR DISCRETE TIME INT ERVALS: (1) THE SPORADIC OCCURRENCE OF A BRIGHT-POINT RETURN; (2) A 2- SECOND DELAY FOR S- AND X-BAND RADAR RETURNS (SURFACE SHOTS), AND A 1- MINUTE DELAY FOR VHF RADAR RETURNS (SHOT TEAK); (3) MAXIMUM GROWTH OF THE SYMMETRICAL SCOPE PATTERN OCCURRED AT 7 TO 15 SECONDS AFTER TIME Z ERO; AND (4) THE NONDESCRIPT PATTERN ASSOCIATED WITH THE DECAY STAGE R EMAINED ON THE RADAR SCREEN FROM 1 TO 8 MINUTES. THE DATA CORRELATED WITH THAT FROM PREVIOUS TESTS ON A NUMBER OF POINTS. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA INDICATED THAT RADAR RETURNS WERE NOT RECEIVED FROM THE FIREBALL. HOWEVER, THE DATA INDICATES THAT GROUND ZERO FOR SURFACE SHOTS CAN B E DETERMINED TO AN ACCURACY OF THE WORDS PLUS OR MINUS 140 FEET. THE PROPORTIONATE GROWTH OF MAXIMUM DIMENSIONS FOR A BURST INDICATED THAT MAXIMUM SIZE MIGHT BE USED AS A ROUGH MEASURE OF YIELD. THE RESULTS S EEM TO POINT OUT THAT ACCURATE HEIGHT INFORMATION CANNOT BE OBTAINED W ITH THE TECHNIQUES USED BY THIS PROJECT.