General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBombing the moon: It was real!1!11!!!
http://www.iflscience.com/space/the-us-had-an-insane-plan-to-drop-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon-in-the-1950s/...
Their idea was to drop a small W25 nuclear warhead along... the Moons terminator (the division between the illuminated and shadowed parts). This means the mushroom cloud would be lit up by the Sun and could be seen from Earth and, in particular, viewable from Moscow. All of their research showed they did indeed have the technological clout to pull this off.
Of course, even a much bigger nuke wouldn't crack the moon in two, disrupt the tides on Earth, disturb women's menstrual cycles, or even nudge the moon's orbit to a measurable degree (well, maybe if you had really, really, really sensitive measurements) -- things that DU old-timers will remember were among the breathless concerns of some of their fellow DUers when we merely crashed a small space probe into the moon.
Disrespect the moon goddess? An attack by the patriarchy on the sacred feminine? Harm aliens living on the moon with whom certain humans had psychic communications?
I suppose those effects are more debatable.
Jonny Appleseed
(960 posts)I wanna crack the moon in two. I think it would look really cool.
Orrex
(63,225 posts)Initech
(100,104 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)It would be a great scifi plot device featuring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Barry Morse!
A sappy memorial:
krispos42
(49,445 posts)It would look totally awesome. Well worth the effort.
longship
(40,416 posts)Cannot find link...
Let's check this one:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5861623&mesg_id=5861623
That's not it either. Maybe somebody else will post a link to the hilarious "Bomb the Moon" thread.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)My kids once told me I seem to be able to find anything if it's on the internet. I guess they were right.
https://web.archive.org/web/20151006222842/http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6712126
longship
(40,416 posts)My best to you!
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Geez, I was so tense back then. Youth, always so serious. Sigh.
I didn't have the patience to make it all the way to the part where it was admitted the upset had something to do with a secret plan to destroy the "star friends lunar colony" where the psychic aliens live .. I know it came out in one of the threads;
... but re-reading that thread convinces me more than ever of my long-running suspicion that "omega minimo" was just a garden variety library girl sock incarnation that somehow managed to rack up several years worth of posts before finally getting banned like the rest of her accounts.
VMA131Marine
(4,149 posts)That results from the hot fireball rising due to it's positive bouyancy compared to the surrounding air. But the moon has no atmosphere, which means the fireball wouldn't rise; so no mushroom cloud.