Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present, and Future

Delzanno, Gian Luca; Borovsky, Joseph E.; Mishin, Evgeny

doi:10.3389/fspas.2020.00005

Title: Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Between 1958 and 1962 the United States and the Soviet Union performed several nuclear detonation tests in the atmosphere, including the Starfish Prime event which involved a 1.4 Mt explosion at 400 km altitude over Johnston island on July 9, 1962 (Gombosi et al., 2017). These tests can be considered as the beginning of active experiments in space (i.e., experiments that deliberately perturb the local environment). They demonstrated the potential destructive power of high-altitude nuclear explosions, both in terms of the resulting electromagnetic pulse as well as for the creation of a potentially long-lasting artificial radiation belt from the radioactive fission debris. For instance,one of the unintended consequences of Starfish Prime was to cripple at least seven spacecraft in low-Earth orbit (LEO), about a third of the LEO spacecraft of the time (Gombosi et al., 2017).

Authors:

^[1]; Borovsky, Joseph E. ^[2]; Mishin, Evgeny ^[3]

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Space Science Inst., Boulder, CO (United States)
Air Force Research Lab. (AFRL), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Publication Date:: Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 EST 2020

Research Org.:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)

OSTI Identifier:: 1739944

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-20-20609
Journal ID: ISSN 2296-987X; TRN: US2205401

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001; 20200073DR; NNX16AB75G; NNX14AC15G; LRIR 19RVCOR038

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 2296-987X

Publisher:: Frontiers Research Foundation

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; active space experiments; plasma physics; magnetosphere; ionosphere; laboratory astrophysics; space physics

Citation Formats


                    Delzanno, Gian Luca, Borovsky, Joseph E., and Mishin, Evgeny. Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present, and Future.  United States: N. p., 2020. 
Web.  doi:10.3389/fspas.2020.00005.

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                    Delzanno, Gian Luca, Borovsky, Joseph E., & Mishin, Evgeny. Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present, and Future.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2020.00005

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                    Delzanno, Gian Luca, Borovsky, Joseph E., and Mishin, Evgeny. Fri .  
"Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present, and Future".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2020.00005.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1739944.

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@article{osti_1739944,

  title        = {Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present, and Future},

  author       = {Delzanno, Gian Luca and Borovsky, Joseph E. and Mishin, Evgeny},

  abstractNote = {Between 1958 and 1962 the United States and the Soviet Union performed several nuclear detonation tests in the atmosphere, including the Starfish Prime event which involved a 1.4 Mt explosion at 400 km altitude over Johnston island on July 9, 1962 (Gombosi et al., 2017). These tests can be considered as the beginning of active experiments in space (i.e., experiments that deliberately perturb the local environment). They demonstrated the potential destructive power of high-altitude nuclear explosions, both in terms of the resulting electromagnetic pulse as well as for the creation of a potentially long-lasting artificial radiation belt from the radioactive fission debris. For instance,one of the unintended consequences of Starfish Prime was to cripple at least seven spacecraft in low-Earth orbit (LEO), about a third of the LEO spacecraft of the time (Gombosi et al., 2017).},

  doi          = {10.3389/fspas.2020.00005},

  journal      = {Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 7,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 EST 2020},

  month        = {Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 EST 2020}

}

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Works referenced in this record:

Anthropogenic Space Weather
journal, April 2017

Gombosi, T. I.; Baker, D. N.; Balogh, A.
Space Science Reviews, Vol. 212, Issue 3-4
DOI: 10.1007/s11214-017-0357-5

Radiation Around the Earth to a Radial Distance of 107,400 km.
journal, February 1959

Van Allen, James A.; Frank, Louis A.
Nature, Vol. 183, Issue 4659
DOI: 10.1038/183430a0

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Title: Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Citation Formats

Anthropogenic Space Weather journal, April 2017

Radiation Around the Earth to a Radial Distance of 107,400 km. journal, February 1959

Anthropogenic Space Weather
journal, April 2017

Radiation Around the Earth to a Radial Distance of 107,400 km.
journal, February 1959