Series of 1950s US nuclear tests
Operation Argus was a series of United States low-yield, high-altitude nuclear weapons tests and missile tests secretly conducted from 27 August to 9 September 1958 over the South Atlantic Ocean. The tests were performed by the Defense Nuclear Agency.
The tests were to study the Christofilos effect, which suggested it was possible to defend against Soviet nuclear missiles by exploding a small number of nuclear bombs high over the South Pacific. This would create a disk of electrons over the United States that would overload the electronics on the Soviet warheads as they descended. It was also possible to use the effect to blind Soviet radars, meaning that any Soviet missile-based ABM system would be unable to attack the US counterstrike.
The tests demonstrated that the effect did occur, but that it dissipated too rapidly to be very effective. Papers concerning the topic were published the next year, emphasizing the events as purely scientific endeavors.
Objectives.
The tests were proposed by Nicholas Christofilos in an unpublished paper of what was then the Livermore branch of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) as a means to verify the Christofilos effect, which argued that high-altitude nuclear detonations would create a radiation belt in the extreme upper regions of the Earth's atmosphere. Such belts would be similar in effect to the Van Allen radiation belts. "Such radiation belts were viewed as having possible tactical use in war, including degradation of radio and radar transmissions, damage or destruction of the arming and fuzing mechanisms of ICBM warheads, and endangering the crews of orbiting space vehicles that might enter the belt." Prior to Argus, Hardtack Teak had shown disruption of radio communications from a nuclear blast, though this was not due to the creation of radiation belts.
"Argus" was implemented rapidly after inception due to forthcoming bans on atmospheric and exoatmospheric testing in October 1958. Consequently, the tests were performed within a mere half-year of conception (whereas "normal" testing took one to two years). Because nuclear testing during this time was arguably a violation of the rules, the military borrowed International Geophysical Year equipment to disguise the nuclear tests.
Originally "Argus" was designated "Hardtack-Argus", and later "Floral". For reasons of security, both names were disused in favor of the independent name "Argus".
Funding was provided by the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP), the predecessor of the present Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). Total funds allotted for the project were US$9,023,000.
Task Force 88.
The United States Navy Task Force 88 (or TF-88), was formed 28 April 1958. TF-88 was organized solely to conduct "Operation Argus". Once "Argus" was completed, the task force was dissolved, and its records dispersed. Some of these records have been destroyed or lost during the time period intervening. Of particular note among the missing documents were the film records (which recorded radiation levels during the "Argus" tests). This has proved contentious due to the greater-than-normal number of leukemia claims among TF-88 participants to the Veterans Administration. Because of this, it has been difficult to resolve to how much radiation the participants were exposed.
USS "Norton Sound".
USS "Norton Sound" was a United States Navy-guided missile ship responsible for missile-launching functions. It also served as a training facility for crews involved in the testing. The X-17A missiles to be used in the test were unfamiliar to those conducting the tests. Exercises including assembly and repair of dummy missiles were performed aboard "Norton Sound". It also carried a 27-MHz COZI radar, which was operated by Air Force Cambridge Research Center, which was used to monitor effects of the shots. It was responsible for the launching of three low-yield nuclear warheads into the high atmosphere. Its commanding officer, Captain Arthur R. Gralla, commanded Task Force 88. Gralla would later receive the Legion of Merit for his role conducting the tests expeditiously.
USS "Albemarle".
USS "Albemarle", fresh out of an overhaul, was not listed on the TF-88 order. It set out to the Atlantic Ocean, supposedly as a shakedown cruise. It, too, had a COZI radar and other instrumentation for detecting man-made ionization. This instrumentation included International Geophysical Year (IGY) radiometers, receivers, radar, and optical equipment. After the IGY
equipment was added, it sailed to the ocean around the area of the Azores to record data at the geomagnetic conjugate point of the South Atlantic test site, as the rest of task force 88 headed to the South Atlantic to perform the tests.
USS "Tarawa".
USS "Tarawa" served as overall command of the operation, with her commander serving as Task Group Commander. It carried an Air Force MSQ-1A radar and communication system for missile tracking. It also housed VS-32 aircraft for search and security operations as well as scientific measurement, photographic, and observer missions for each test. HS-5 was also aboard and provided intra-task-force transportation for personnel and cargo.
USS "Warrington".
USS "Warrington", in conjunction with "Bearss", "Hammerberg", and "Courtney", maintained a weather picket 463 km west of the task force, provided an airplane guard for "Tarawa" during flight operations, and performed standard destroyer functions (such as surface security and search and rescue). "Warrington" also carried equipment for launching Loki Dart sounding rockets.
Task Group 88.3.
USS "Neosho" refueled task force ships during the operation. It was also outfitted with Air Force MSQ-1A radar and communication vans. "Neosho" also served as the flagship for TG 88.3, the Mobile Logistics Group, which consisted of "Neosho", USS "Salamonie" (AO-26), and assigned destroyers.
USS "Salamonie" returned to the United States upon arrival at TF-88, and did not participate with any tests.
Satellite tracking.
Two satellite launches were attempted in order to obtain data from these high-altitude tests. Explorer 4 was launched successfully to orbit on 26 July on Juno I missile from Cape Canaveral. The satellite had enough battery power to function for sixty days. This was long enough for the satellite to track and measure ARGUS. Explorer 5 experienced a launch failure on 24 August.
There were many tracking systems used by the task force along with these satellites along with many organizations that helped track these missiles. "These included the Naval Research Laboratory, the Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Laboratory, the Army Map Service, the Naval Ordnance Test Station, and the Ballistic Research Laboratory along with ground tracking stations from the Aleutian Islands through the Azores from academic, industrial, and military organizations."
Preparation.
To prepare for the launch of the ARGUS missiles, many tests and preparations were performed. As the east coast units of TF 88 were heading towards the South Atlantic, they participated with countdown, launch, and missile- tracking drills using Loki/Dart high-altitude, antiaircraft rockets launched from the USS "Warrington". Fourteen of these Loki launches were conducted from 12 to 22 August. These tests were performed to test equipment and procedures, and to train personnel in specialized assignments. Some of these assignments necessary for the ARGUS missile launchings were "stationing of ships, MSQ-1A radar tracking by the USS "Neosho" and the USS "Tarawa", communications, positioning of sky-camera S2F aircraft, and area surveillance S2F aircraft."
Tests.
About 1800 km southwest of Cape Town, South Africa, USS "Norton Sound" launched three modified X-17A missiles armed with 1.7 kt W-25 nuclear warheads into the upper atmosphere, where high altitude nuclear explosions occurred. Due to the South Atlantic Anomaly, the Van Allen radiation belt is closer to the Earth's surface at that location. The (extreme) altitude of the tests was chosen so as to prevent personnel involved with the test from being exposed to any ionizing radiation. Even with the very minor threat of radiation exposure, precautions were taken to prevent radiological exposure. The task force commander and his staff had devised a series of precautionary radiation safe measures to be followed in each stage of the operation. Though the chance of exposure to radiation from these missiles was minute, the safety measures were performed as directed by the commander by the crew of Task Force 88.
Coordinated measurement programs involving satellite, rocket, aircraft, and surface stations were employed by the services as well as other government agencies and various contractors worldwide.
The Argus explosions created artificial electron belts resulting from the β-decay of fission fragments. These lasted for several weeks. Such radiation belts affect radio and radar transmissions, damage or destroy arming and fusing mechanisms of intercontinental ballistic missile warheads, and endanger crews of orbiting space vehicles. It was found after performing these tests that the explosions did in fact degrade the reception and transmission of radar signals, another proof that Christofilos was correct about the Christofilos effect.
"Argus" proved the validity of Christofilos' theory: the establishment of an electron shell derived from neutron and β-decay of fission products and ionization of device materials in the upper atmosphere was demonstrated. It not only provided data on military considerations, but produced a "great mass" of geophysical data.
The tests were first reported journalistically by Hanson Baldwin and Walter Sullivan of "The New York Times" on 19 March 1959, headlining it as the "greatest scientific experiment ever conducted". This was an unauthorized publication that caused great controversy among scientists because many of them were unaware of the presence of artificial particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Approximately nine ships and 4,500 people participated with the operation. After the completion of testing, the task force returned to the United States via Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The tests were announced officially the next year, but the full results and documentation of the tests were not declassified until 30 April 1982.
List of Argus launches.
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References.
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