Project A119, also known as A Study of Lunar Research Flights, was a top-secret plan developed in 1958 by the United States Air Force. The aim of the project was to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon, which would help in answering some of the mysteries in planetary astronomy and astrogeology. If the explosive device detonated on the surface, and not in a lunar crater, the flash of explosive light would have been faintly visible to people on Earth with their naked eye. This was meant as a show of force resulting in a possible boosting of domestic morale in the capabilities of the United States, a boost that was needed after the Soviet Union took an early lead in the Space Race. The project was never carried out, being canceled after "Air Force officials decided its risks outweighed its benefits", and because a Moon landing would undoubtedly be a more popular achievement in the eyes of the American and international public alike. If executed, the plan might have led to a potential militarization of space. An identical project by the Soviet Union (Project E-4) also never came to fruition due to fears of the warhead falling back on Soviet territory, and the potential for an international incident. The existence of the US project was revealed in 2000 by a former executive at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Leonard Reiffel, who had led the project in 1958. A young Carl Sagan was part of the team responsible for predicting the effects of a nuclear explosion in vacuum and low gravity, and evaluating the scientific value of the project. The relevant documents remained secret for nearly 45 years and, despite Reiffel's revelations, the United States government has never officially acknowledged its involvement in the study.
Background During the Cold War, the Soviet Union took the lead in the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite in orbit around the Earth, and the surprise of its successful launch, compounded by the resounding failure of Project Vanguard to launch an American satellite after two attempts, had been dubbed the "Sputnik crisis" by the media and was the impetus for the beginning of the Space Race. Trying to reclaim lost ground, the United States embarked on a series of new studies and projects, which eventually included the launch of Explorer 1, the creation of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and NASA.
Project In 1949, the Armour Research Foundation (ARF), based at the Illinois Institute of Technology, began studying the effects of nuclear explosions on the environment. Those studies continued until 1962. In May 1958, ARF began covertly researching the potential consequences of a nuclear explosion on the Moon. The main objective of the program, running under the auspices of the United States Air Force which had initially proposed it, was to cause a nuclear explosion that would be visible from Earth. It was hoped that such a display would boost the morale of the American people. At the time of the project's conception, newspapers were reporting a rumor that the Soviet Union was planning to detonate a hydrogen bomb on the Moon. According to press reports in late 1957, an anonymous source had divulged to a United States Secret Service agent that the Soviets planned to commemorate the anniversary of the October Revolution by causing a nuclear explosion on the Moon to coincide with a lunar eclipse on 7 November. News reports of the rumored launch included mention of targeting the dark side of the terminator—Project A119 would also consider this boundary as the target for an explosion. It was also reported that a failure to hit the Moon would likely result in the missile returning to Earth. A similar idea had been put forward by Edward Teller, the "father of the H-bomb", who, in February 1957, proposed the detonation of nuclear devices both on and some distance from the lunar surface to analyze the effects of the explosion.
Research
A ten-member team, led by Leonard Reiffel, was assembled at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago to study the potential visibility of the explosion, the benefits to science, and the implications for the lunar surface. Among the members of the research team were astronomer Gerard Kuiper and his doctoral student Carl Sagan. Sagan was responsible for the mathematical projection of the expansion of a dust cloud in space around the Moon, an essential element in determining its visibility from Earth. Scientists initially considered using a hydrogen bomb for the project, but the United States Air Force vetoed that idea due to the weight of such a device, because it would be too heavy to be propelled by the missile which would have been used. It was then decided to use a W25 warhead, a small, lightweight warhead with a relatively low 1.7 kiloton yield. By contrast, the Little Boy bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 had a yield of 13–18 kilotons. The W25 would be carried by a rocket toward the shadowed side of the Moon where it would detonate on impact. The dust cloud resulting from the explosion would be lit by the Sun and therefore visible from Earth. According to Reiffel, the Air Force's progress in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles would have made such a launch feasible by 1959.
Cancellation The project was canceled by the Air Force in January 1959, seemingly out of fear of the risk to the population if anything went wrong with the launch. Another factor, cited by project leader Leonard Reiffel, was the possible problem of nuclear fallout which would affect future lunar research projects and Moon colonization.
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