Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-03-26

1.-THE desired effects. He added
that an explosion to the north
would be more likely to inter-
fere with commercial trans
portation. There Is virtually
no sea or air travel In the re-
gion where the blasts took
place.
The bald. scientific language
Of the report could not mask
the impression that must have
been left on eyewitnesses
aboard nine naval vessels in
GLIDING the scientific ship Nor
ton Sound.
"A fascinating sequence OF
observations was obtained" the
report said. The brilliant ini-
rtial fash of the burst was sue
ceeded by q fainter but persist
ent auroral .luminescence In
the atmospheric extending up
wards and downwards along
the magnetic line Of force
through the burst point. Ale
most simultaneously at the
point where this line Of force
returns to the earth's atmos-
phere In the northern hemis-
phere-the so-called conjugate
point-near the Azores Islands,
a bright auroral glow appeared
| in the sky and was observed
from aircraft previously sta
toned there in anticipation OF
the event."
Keyed to Explorer Satellite
Also in anticipation, Elk
plorer Nv had been launched
a month earlier in a trajectory
which crossed the equator at
an angle Of 81 degrees. Pur-
pose Of the months advance
firing was to give the scien-
lists a solid foundation OF
background radiation measure
ments against which to mea-
sure the results OF the cleo
tron-creating shots. Sounding
rockets Of the Jason" type
small-payload. ffve-stage de-
vices-also we're sent UP on
preliminary tests and later
were used in assessing the
magnetic field 500 miles UP.
After the blasts occurred. Ex-
plorer w weaved in and out
of the artificial radiation
blanket some $50 times until
exhaustion of its batteries in
latter September. though by
that time the intensity had be-
come barely observable above
the background Of natural ra-
diation at the attitudes COW
cred by the orbit Of this sat-
elite"
1000 Mile Bulge
The line of force along which !
the Argus blasts took place
started at the earth's surface
and bulged out to q distance
of about 1000 miles at the re-
hottest point. Density OF the !
atmosphere prevented any eff
fects being noted below about |
200 miles, which is where the |
auroras were discerned. Above |
the auroral level the atmos- !
phere Is so thin there Is lit
orally nothing there to glow,
and measurements had to be
made with instruments.
Within less than a day. DR..
York said. the band Of electrons
had diffused into a blanket
completely surrounding the
earth in ATTITUDES correspond |
ing to those covered by the in
'ftial line of force. The blanket
was thickest - lin the 100 |
mile range" - where 1t was
farthest out from earth. DIR.
York said.
No Military Comment
The Argus project. conducted
by Navy scientists with money
furnished by the Advanced Re-
search Projects Agency. OBJ
viously had profound military
significance. But all questions
relating to military applications /
- including communications I
and the so-called "anti-misSile /
missile" were bluntly rebuffed
by DR.. York. as they had been .
a week earlier by Deputy De-
tense Secretary Quarles. 4
Basic idea for the experiment .
grew out of studies by Nicholas "
Christof1loS of the University of .
California radiation laboratory. \
Mr.. Christofilos, working on
hydrogen-power experiments in
connection with Project Sher-
wood, surmised that if sub
atomic particles were injected
into outer space within the
earth's magnetic field by means
of a nuclear explosion, there
electrons would be trapped"
and spiral around the earth for
considerable periods.