Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-03-19

Pentoqon, Cautious on Revealing
Defense Purpose of Atomic Blasts

OvA~sAA~Nu NANSu $50 49,
test, DR.. York said. was ID, and
out more about the nature and
origin of the Van Allen belt Of
radiation.
The Van Allen belt is a
mysterious radiation band be-
ginning at about 1000 miles
above the earth and extending.
with some interruptions, up to
at least $4,000 miles. 1t is
named for Its discoverer, DR..
James Van Allen, State Uni
versity of Iowa physicist.
DR.. York said the phenom-
enon created above the eartt's
atmosphere by the September
tests consisted Of q sheet Of
electrons which was IAN arti-
fetal version Of the natural
effect" from the Van Allen
belt.
The electronic sheet created
by the bombs. he said. ex-
tended around the whole world
except for breaks over both the
North and South Poles-a pat
tern similar to the Van Allen
belt.
DR.. York would not reveal the
depth of the artificial sheet or
say how long the phenomenon
lasted.
No Fallout Noted
Because Of the enormous
altitude at which the bombs
were exploded. he said. there
would be no fallout Of RADIO
active materiakfrom the bombs
upon the earth. u
AT such an enormous alti- /
tude, DR.. York said, ''the radio
active debris from the bombs
just spreads out tin space)."
The Explorer ~ satellite sent
back some data on the tests.
This information is to be re-
leased later.
Sources outside the Pentagon
who had been informed of the
tests said It was significant
that about the time they were
made there was a sudden re-
duction in the Nike-Zeus pro-
gram to develop an antimissile
missile. However, there was no
clear indication as to whether
this pointed to possible future
development of a program
aimed at producing high alti-
tude shield against missiles
The Pentagon said today
that the tests produced no di-
rect effect on the Nike-Zeus
missile development.
(Mr. Quarles said the expert
ment turned up no data which
would lead to any change of
concept for the Zeus system. 1
He said that although the
tests do IDEAL with scientific
phenomena that are part of
the underlying basis" for Zeus,
they were not directly in
VOWED with the anti-missile
program.
lie said that Project Argus
had no connection with the
Pentagon decision not to allow
the Army to begin production /
of Zeus components at this
time.)
Mr.. Quarles said yesterday
results of the tests are being
studied by many scientists. He
termed the experiment IAN ex-
ploration of the unknown in
an area that may have con-
siderable Importance"
While Defense Department
officials did not say so, presum-
ably the studies Of the man
made radiation belt are de-
signed in part to help find
practical means Of protecting
future space travellers against
adverse effects Of the natural
Van Allen belt.
Pentagon Announcement
An official Pentagon an
nouncement early today said:
THE United States fired in
the South Atlantic late in
September a series Of three
small nuclear devices at a very
high altitude outside the earth's
atmosphere. I
THE purpose was two-fold-
I'd to test important scientific
theories about the earth'S mag
netic field and 90 to test high
altitude effects of military
Interest, the details of which
will not be disclosed. |,
Regarding the first OBJ
jective, the experiments pro-
vided data about the earth's |.
magnetic field which supple
nnapfod dofo ohnfff natural !,