(单词翻译:单击)
Detonating a nuclear bomb seems like a risky business in general,
引爆核弹似乎是件危险的事,
but in the early 1960's, the US and the Soviet Union were busy trying to figure out what would happen if you set one off in space.
但在20世纪60年代初，关于在太空中引爆核弹会发生什么，美国和苏联早就研究了。
The answer turned out to be something they didn't really expect.
答案证明结果不是他们想要的。
A nuclear blast could cause a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, or EMP,
核爆炸可能导致高空电磁脉冲（EMP）的发生，
a powerful man-made burst of electromagnetic energy that could basically wipe out communications here on Earth.
人造电磁能量的强有力爆发，基本上可以摧毁地球上的通讯。
It was a whole new way to use the bomb, and they kind of discovered it by accident.
这是一种使用炸弹的全新方法，是被偶然发现的。
It all started in 1958, when the US launched its first satellite Explorer 1.
一切要从1958年美国发射第一颗人造卫星“探险者1号”说起。
NASA scientist James Van Allen equipped it with a Geiger counter,
美国宇航局科学家詹姆斯·范·艾伦为卫星配备了一个盖革计数器，
because he wanted to measure radiation at different altitudes, a project he'd already been working on using balloons.
因为他想测量不同海拔的辐射，但之前是用气球研究的。
The readings that came back were strange.
计数器返回的读数很奇怪。
Radiation levels seemed to increase with altitude, then suddenly dropped to 0, then increase, and then suddenly dropped to 0 again.
辐射水平似乎随海拔的高度增加，然后突然降为0，然后再增加，然后又突然变成0.
More testing showed that readings that looked like 0 were actually
更多的试验表明，看起来像0的读数确实是0，
because the radiation levels were so high that the detector couldn't handle it.
因为辐射水平太高，以至于探测器无法承受。
But that spring Van Allen realized he made a new discovery:
但是那个春天，范艾伦意识到他有了新发现：
that there were at least two belts around the planet between 1,000 and 60,000 kilometers up，
在行星周围1000到6000米的高度区间至少有两条带子，
with extra high concentrations of charged particles like electrons and protons.
它们有额外高浓度的带电粒子，如电子和质子。
Today we call these belts the Van Allen belts
如今我们称这两条带子为范艾伦辐射带，
and we know that they're mostly made of particles from solar wind and cosmic rays, held in place by Earth's magnetic field.
知道它们大部分是由太阳风和宇宙射线的粒子构成的，由地球磁场控制。
We also know that depending on solar activity, there can be more than two of them.
我们也知道，根据太阳活动，范艾伦辐射带可能有两条以上。
In May of that year Van Allen presented his discovery at a press conference at the National Academy in Washington DC.
那年5月，范·艾伦在华盛顿国家科学院新闻发布会上发布了他的发现。
Later that day, the US military asked for his help detonating nuclear weapons in the Van Allen belts.
当天晚些时候，美国军方要求他帮助其在范艾伦辐射带上引爆核武器。
US military officials suspected the Soviets were doing high-altitude nuclear tests,
他们怀疑苏联在进行高空核试验，
and at the time nobody really knew how high-altitude explosion would differ from one here on Earth.
当时没人真正知道高空爆炸与地球上的爆炸有何不同。
And the Van Allen Belts added a whole new element
范艾伦辐射带增加了一个全新元素，
because nuclear blasts release lots of charged particles and here with these two huge bands of more charged particles,
因为核爆炸释放大量的带电粒子，再加上两条辐射带带电粒子增加，
the US was worried that interference from the Van Allen belts might hide incoming missiles
美国担心范艾伦带的干涉可能隐藏进入目标区的导弹，
or that they could somehow be used to steer a blast.
或者他们可以用某种方法来控制爆炸。
So they decided to learn more about how atomic bombs behaved at high altitudes by detonating a bunch of them.
因此，他们决定通过引爆一堆炸弹来更多地了解原子弹爆炸在高海拔地区的表现。
During those tests they ended up measuring electric signals so high
在这些试验中，他们认为最终测量到如此强烈的电信号
they thought it was a fluke caused by other flaws in the instruments they were using.
是使用仪器的其他缺陷引起的侥幸。
But they had to wait a while to figure out what was really happening,
但他们不得不等待一段时间才能弄清楚到底发生了什么，
because later that year the USSR called for a ban on high-altitude nuclear testing, and the US agreed.
因为当年晚些时候，苏联要求禁止高空核试验，美国也同意了。
Then in 1961 the USSR started testing their own nukes at high altitudes anyway,
1961年，苏联开始在高海拔地区试验他们自己的核武器，
and the US quickly continued their own, including a test known as Starfish Prime.
美国迅速跟进试验，其中包括“海星一号”试验。
Starfish Prime was humanity's first hydrogen bomb detonated at a high altitude.
“海星一号”试验是人类在高空引爆的第一枚氢弹。
It detonated 400 kilometers above a point near its launch from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean.
它在太平洋约翰斯顿岛发射上空400公里处爆炸，
It was also the biggest bomb ever set off in space,
也是有史以来在太空中引爆的最大炸弹。
100 times more powerful than the hiroshima bomb and with a blast equal to about 1.4 million tons of TNT.
威力比广岛原子弹大100倍，相当于140万吨TNT炸药爆炸。
But with so little air around it, it didn't make a fireball.
但由于周围空气稀薄，没有形成火球。
Instead, the charged particles zooming away from Starfish Prime caused a huge Aurora
相反，带电粒子从“海星一号”上迅速消失，造成巨大的极光，
that could be seen for thousands of kilometers around Johnston Island.
甚至约翰斯顿岛附近数千里远的地方都能看到。
And then, burglar alarms started going off in Hawaii more than a thousand kilometers away.
然后，在一千多公里之外的夏威夷，防盗警报器开始响起。
27 rockets followed Starfish Prime to gather data and even they weren't equipped to measure what happened.
27枚火箭跟随“海星一号”试验收集数据，它们甚至没有能力来衡量所发生的事。
What the US learned was that the oddly high measurement from earlier tests weren't glitches.
美国了解到的是，早期试验中的奇怪高测量值并不是小故障。
High-altitude nuclear explosions are just very different.
高空核爆炸非常不同。
In the near vacuum up there, the energy from nuclear blast sends out lots of free electrons.
在附近真空中，核爆炸产生的能量释放出大量的自由电子。
Those electrons create a brief but extremely powerful electromagnetic pulse: an EMP.
这些电子创造了一个短暂但极其强大的电磁脉冲。
Starfish Prime's EMP was so strong,
“海星一号”的电磁脉冲非常强大，
it affected the flow of electricity on Earth thousands of kilometers from Johnston Island,
它影响了约翰斯顿岛附近数千公里的地球电流，
causing blackouts and electrical malfunctions in Hawaii and disabling at least six satellites.
造成夏威夷停电和电气故障，使至少6颗卫星瘫痪。
But that was in a relatively isolated area.
但那仅是在一个相对孤立的地区。
Today an EMP could be used to disable an entire country.
如今，EMP可以使整个国家瘫痪。
A US commission to study EMPs in 2008 estimated that an EMP attack could kill 90% of the U.S. population within 12 months,
2008年，美国一个研究电磁脉冲的委员会估计，电磁脉冲攻击可能会在12个月内杀死90%的美国人，
since so much of the way we live depends on satellites and the electrical grid.
因为我们的生活方式很大程度上依赖于卫星和电网。
The US military ran a few more tests after Starfish Prime,
在“海星一号”试验之后，美国军方又进行了几次试验，
but they kept things a lot smaller and the data from those tests is still classified.
但他们缩小了规模，而且这些试验数据仍然是保密的。
Only a year later the USSR proposed another moratorium on high-altitude nukes:
仅仅一年之后，苏联提出了另一项关于高空核弹的禁令：
the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963, and we haven't set off any nukes in space since then.
1963年限制核试验条约，此后，我们还不曾在太空发射核弹。
So in the end humanity was probably right to be worried about the consequences of detonating nuclear bombs in space,
人类可能在最后有权利担心太空引爆核弹的后果，
but mainly because they accidentally stumbled upon a way to make the aftermath of the bomb even worse.
但主要是因为他们无意中发现了使炸弹后果更加严重的方法。
Thanks for watching this historical episode of SciShow Space
感谢您收看本期的太空科学秀，
and thanks especially to our patrons on Patreon who help make this show possible.
我们也非常感谢Patreon对本节目的大力支持。
If you want to help us keep making episodes like this,
如果你想我们继续制作此类节目，
just go to patreon.com/SciShow to learn more,
就登陆patreon.com/SciShow了解更多信息，
and don't forget to go to youtube.com/ScishowSpace and subscribe.
不要忘了登录youtube.com/ScishowSpace点击订阅哦！
