US Atomic Test Reveals Hidden Costs of Space Warfare

In 1962, the United States executed a nuclear test known as Starfish Prime at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers, as part of the broader Operation Fishbowl during the Cold War. This test aimed to understand how high-altitude nuclear explosions would affect communications and radar systems, and it resulted in a massive release of radiation and plasma that created artificial auroras visible from thousands of miles away. The test's aftermath highlighted critical vulnerabilities, including outages in Hawaiian public utilities and electromagnetic disruptions that affected infrastructure across the Pacific.