page_title: June 1980
section_title: June 24, 1980 (Tuesday)
hierarchical_section_title: June 1980 / June 24, 1980 (Tuesday)
caption_attribution_description: English: Huron King Test Chamber, located to the right of 3-08 Road in Area 3, 600 meters from its original location. The Huron King test chamber contained a communications satellite and other space-related experiments, and simulated a space environment. It was used for a rare type of Vertical Line of Sight underground test conducted by the Defense Nuclear Agency, forerunner of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The device, which was less than 20 kilotons in yield, was detonated on June 24, 1980.
context_page_description: The following events happened in June 1980:
context_section_description: The Huron King experiment was carried out at the Nevada Test Site in the United States  as "The first large-scale underground nuclear test of a realistic satellite test object" for purposes of improvement of the shielding of orbiting U.S. satellites from radiation produced by nuclear explosions   As one author noted, "Satellites can be destroyed by the electrical effects induced by a burst of gamma rays from a nuclear explosion at a distance of hundreds of kilometers, because in space the intensity of the gamma rays... declines only as the inverse square of the distance."   Since the U.S. had agreed to a ban on atmospheric and space testing of weapons, the experiment, which cost US$10.3 million, involved the placement of 20 kiloton nuclear device 1,050 feet (320 m) underground, over which a mobile test chamber on the surface carried a DSCS III defense communications satellite.  "An instant after the detonation, the satellite was bathed in x-rays and gamma rays.  Explosive-driven doors sealed the chamber a fraction after the detonation to prevent radioactive debris from reaching the satellite"  after which the Huron King test chamber was driven away by remote control before a crater was formed by the explosion.
  Died: 
  Varahagiri Venkata Giri (V. V. Giri), 85, President of India from 1969 to 1974 and Governor of three different states of India
  Boris Kaufman, 73, Russian-born American cinematographer, 1954 Academy Award winner for On the Waterfront
  David Burpee, 87, American businessman who built a fortune in the selling of seeds.
caption: Huron King
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