What America Needs to Know About EMPs - By Peter Pry In her article "The Boogeyman Bomb," Sharon Weinberger makes several allegations about the threat of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons, and a congressional commission set up to investigate it, that require correction. By way of background, a nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude will produce an electromagnetic pulse that can damage and destroy electronic systems over vast regions of the Earth's surface. A single nuclear weapon detonated at an altitude of 400 kilometers over the United States would project an EMP field over the entire country, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. Mother Nature can also pose an EMP threat by means of a solar flare that causes a geomagnetic storm. EMP is not just a threat to computers and electronic gadgets, but to all the critical infrastructures that depend on electronics and electricity -- communications, transportation, banking and finance, food and water -- and that sustain modern civilization and the lives of the American people.
Confessions of a Mossad spy Former spy Michael Ross was on Mossad’s very first pathfinding mission into Iran in 1993. As a combatant in the Israeli intelligence service, he knows any covert operation — such as the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist this week by a hitman on a motorcycle — is the culmination of a finely honed plan. “There would have been a huge mosaic of activity going on around [the targeted killing],” said Mr. Ross, who is no longer in the field but still uses a pseudonym. “How did the assassin know what car he was in? What street he was on? That “mosaic of activity” could have included everything from infiltrating the Iranian nuclear weapons program by convincing someone inside to defect; planting bugs and “scooping up information over the airwaves” using signals intelligence; breaking into a hotel room and swiping data from a laptop without the owner’s knowledge, or even obtaining information from the Iranian opposition group known as the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran. When Mr. Mr. Mr.
Space Weather: Explosions on Venus Space Weather: Explosions on Venus In the grand scheme of the solar system, Venus and Earth are almost the same distance from the sun. Yet the planets differ dramatically: Venus is some 100 times hotter than Earth and its days more than 200 times longer. As the solar wind rushes outward from the sun at nearly a million miles per hour, it is stopped about 44,000 miles away from Earth when it collides with the giant magnetic envelope that surrounds the planet called the magnetosphere. A recent study, appearing online in the Journal of Geophysical Research on February 29, 2012, has found clear evidence on Venus for a type of space weather outburst quite common at Earth, called a hot flow anomaly. "They are an amazing phenomenon," says Sibeck. › View larger When discontinuities in the solar wind remain in contact with a planet's bow shock, they can collect a pool of hot particles that becomes a hot flow anomaly (HFA). "That may not sound like much," he says. Karen C.
Electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also sometimes called a transient electromagnetic disturbance, is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Such a pulse may occur in the form of a radiated electric or magnetic field or conducted electrical current depending on the source, and may be natural or man-made. The term "electromagnetic pulse" is commonly abbreviated to EMP, pronounced by saying the letters separately (E-M-P). EMP interference is generally damaging to electronic equipment, and at higher energy levels a powerful EMP event such as a lightning strike can damage physical objects such as buildings and aircraft structures. The management of EMP effects is an important branch of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) engineering. The damaging effects of high-energy EMP have been used to create EMP weapons. General characteristics[edit] An electromagnetic pulse is a relatively short burst of electromagnetic energy. Types of energy[edit] Frequency ranges[edit] Pulse waveforms[edit] Effects[edit]
Operation Fishbowl Operation Fishbowl was a series of high altitude nuclear tests in 1962 that were carried out by the United States as a part of the larger Operation Dominic nuclear test program. Array of rockets with instruments for making scientific measurements of high-altitude nuclear tests during liftoff preparations on Johnston Island Introduction[edit] The Operation Fishbowl nuclear tests were originally planned to be completed during the first half of 1962 with three tests named Bluegill, Starfish and Urraca.[1] The first test attempt was delayed until June. Planning for Operation Fishbowl, as well as many other nuclear tests in the region, was begun rapidly in response to the sudden Soviet announcement on 30 August 1961 that they were ending a three-year moratorium on nuclear testing.[2] The rapid planning of very complex operations necessitated many changes as the project progressed. All of the tests were to be launched on missiles from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator. 1.
Starfish Prime The flash created by the explosion as seen through heavy cloud cover from Honolulu 1,445 km away Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States of America on July 9, 1962, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Defense Atomic Support Agency (which became the Defense Nuclear Agency in 1971). Launched via a Thor rocket and carrying a W49 thermonuclear warhead (manufactured by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory) and a Mk. 2 reentry vehicle, the explosion took place 250 miles (400 km) above a point 19 miles (31 km) southwest of Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. It was one of five tests conducted by the USA in outer space as defined by the FAI. Operation Fishbowl[edit] In 1958 the United States had completed six high-altitude nuclear tests, but the high-altitude tests of that year produced many unexpected results and raised many new questions. Explosion[edit] Another view of Starfish Prime through thin cloud, as seen from Honolulu
Combat Camera - An FP Slide Show As fewer Americans serve in the armed forces, the difficulty of translating the experience of military service to a wider public becomes increasingly challenging. But sometimes a picture tells a thousand words, as in this selection of winners from the 2011 Military Photographer of the Year competition, which was recently judged at the Defense Information School at Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland. Combat photography began in earnest during the Civil War, when President Abraham Lincoln commissioned Mathew Brady to document the war, eventually leading to an invaluable trove of photographs used by generations of historians. Today, hundreds of U.S. military photographers, videographers, and artists continue to document armed services activities around the world. Above, U.S.
Saturation diving Hannes Keller In 1962 a Swiss guy named Hannes Keller reached a depth of 300 meters on a breathing mixture of helium and oxygen. He used a different technique: he went down in a small diving bell in which the pressure was a little higher than that of the outside surrounding water. In this way he could open a hatch once he arrived on the bottom and swim to his job. The gas was supplied to him from the bell by an umbilical. An umbilical can be defined as a multifunctional life-line. In fact Keller created the pillar for future military, scientific and commercial diving. George Bond Dr. As long as the diver stayed at the depth where he saturated, his decompression period would be unaffected, even if he stayed days or weeks. What is saturation diving and how does it work ? Depending on the depth and the time the diver stays there, the tissues in the divers body collect gasses from the surrounding environment relatively quick until a point of saturation is reached. Underwater Habitats
Deep Stop Decompression Profile Comparisons Sample Decompression Comparisons Decompression Comparison between Departure, VPM and RGBM Both Departure, VPM and RGBM use bubble models and algorithms to calculate their decompression stops. This article was written to show both some similarities and some differences between these different models. As is discussed in the Ascending From a Dive article, the first step in comparing dive tables, a decompression approach or software is to first determine the no-stop time limits to determine their conservatism. V-Planner is modeled after the VPM model with their VPM-B model having some more conservative adjustments to the model. The next step in evaluating a model is to see how the model brings a diver through the decompression stops to the surface. The main difference between the VPM and RGBM models and that of the Haldanian/Buhlmann type models (in addition to having deep stops) is that M-values (a set maximum allowed gas tension per tissue compartment) are not used. Departure vs.
Five Years Later, How They Got Saddam Hussein Swim Underground in Utah’s Homestead Crater | Okeanos Aquascaping Blog Posted by Dabney B. on Monday, January 16th, 2012 Image: MostInterestingDestinations.com A while ago, I featured an underwater swimming pool in Utah as being the world’s coolest swimming pool. Yes, that’s actually putting all subjectivity aside. In 1998, Harvard scientists visited the pool with their newly-invented cooloscopy device and tested the pool. In the meantime, though, this underground pool is easily the most amazing swimming area I’ve ever encountered – and I do nothing but write about aquatic architecture, so that’s saying a lot. Image: OKHate To visit the pool, head to Utah’s Midway, a small town with a unique geographical feature known as the Homestead Crater. The American continent attempted to one-up Australia, which already had a bunch of neat things like the Great Barrier Reef and kangaroos. Not only is the lake great for swimming, but is actually deep enough to accommodate scuba diving.