In August and September 1958, the United States military carried out a secret series of high-altitude nuclear tests in the remote upper reaches of the South Atlantic Ocean. Code-named Operation Argus, the operation involved launching three low-yield nuclear devices between 100 and 500 kilometres into space. The explosions created artificial auroras that appeared across the night sky and produced temporary radiation belts around the Earth that lasted for weeks. The tests were designed to investigate an idea proposed by physicist Nicholas Christofilos. He believed that detonating nuclear weapons above the atmosphere would release high-energy electrons that could become trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field.
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