Since ancient times, mankind's curiosity about space exploration has never stopped. With the rapid development of science and technology, space has become a "new battlefield" for countries to compete to show their strength.
In particular, during the struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union, the two superpowers did whatever it took to gain superiority in the space field.
For example, in the 60s of the last century, the United States disregarded the dissuasion of the United Nations and unscrupulously launched more than 400 million copper needles into space.
This not only tarnishes the purity of space exploration, but also poses a potential long-term threat to the space environment. And this threat has not been eliminated to this day.
So why is the United States doing this?
What kind of untold conspiracy is hidden behind this absurd and shameful behavior?
What kind of harm does 430 million copper needles bring to countries around the world?
01 In order to confront the Soviet Union, the United States hatched a conspiracy
In the 60s of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union were in a state of Cold War confrontation, and both sides sought advantages in technology, military and communications.
However, under the conditions of scientific and technological development at that time, long-distance international communication was mainly connected by submarine cables and natural ionospheric reflective radios.
However, the submarine cable has obvious targets and is prone to the risk of being cut off by the enemy, while the ionospheric reflective radio has unstable signal transmission, so these two original communication methods have their own limitations.
The United States realizes that on a rapidly changing battlefield, every moment can determine victory or defeat, and any communication disruption could lead to catastrophic consequences.
In order to seize the advantage of communication and occupy a favorable situation. The United States urgently needed a means or method of radio communication on a global scale.
In 1958, the American scientist Walter Mora officially proposed the "Hivolt Plan": to
But soon after, something embarrassing happened......
02. As soon as hundreds of millions of copper needles went to the sky, they suddenly suffered an accident......
On October 21, 1962, the U.S. military began to implement the "Hivolt Plan".
Unknowingly, they launched about 80 million copper needles with a length of 1.78 cm into orbits 3,500-3,800 kilometers above the ground.
However, the weather was not beautiful, and the solar storm caused the magnetic field to be disordered, and the copper needle was not spread as originally planned to form a signal network.
As a result, the US military had to re-examine the "Hivolt Plan." On May 9, 1963, after the solar storm, they will be again
The Hivort plan and the copper needle
As the rocket ignited, 350 million copper needles were sent into space, slowly spreading out in orbit, and finally forming a ring signal network on the Earth's surface that was 38 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers thick.
After that, the signal ring gradually played its magical role:
This not only greatly improved the long-range communication capability of the United States during this period, but also brought great convenience to emergency coordination in the military field and daily communication in the civilian field.
According to the expected plan, this will inevitably allow the United States to far surpass the Soviet Union in communications technology.
However, the role of this copper needle signal network in the next period does not seem to be as smooth as they expected.
Hivolt launcher
And so, something shocking to everyone happened.
Just three months after the launch was completed, the United States, which had high hopes for the "Hivolt metal cloud," gradually discovered that the speed at which the copper needles dispersed was like a train gradually sliding into the abyss, and it was out of control. The transmission signal became intermittent, and finally the function of real-time communication was completely lost.
And they racked their brains for research, and in the end they could only helplessly face the reality that the copper needle had become a pile of garbage floating in space.
But then, a more difficult problem arises.
03. Do you litter in your own home?
From the very beginning, the implementation of the "Hivolt Plan" caused an uproar around the world. This act of launching a copper needle into space has undoubtedly aroused extremely strong dissatisfaction in international public opinion, and the United States has also launched two more frequent launches.
People from all walks of life could not sit still and stood up one after another, pointing out that this large-scale firing of copper needles lacks scientific basis.
Many governments have diplomatically condemned the United States, saying that the United States is doing the same as littering their own yards.
The scattering of a total of 430 million copper needles is like impurities in space, which not only poses a potential threat to the ecological environment of the earth's outer space, but also poses a serious obstacle to human exploration of space in the future.
First of all, the 430 million copper needles are likely to interfere with human observation of distant galaxies, leaving astronomical telescopes "blind" and unable to capture those faint and precious light signals.
And the messy signal emitted by the copper needle, like a noisy farce, interferes with the communication and data transmission of the spacecraft, which not only makes the information unable to be transmitted to the ground control center in time, but also may pass through the space station to cause damage, and even threaten the life safety of astronauts.
At a time when all sectors of society were discussing this behavior that could affect the future of the planet and humanity, the United States finally responded.
04. The reaction of the United States is appropriate.
The international concerns and doubts aroused by the "Hivolt plan" continue to ferment, and the United States has reached a point where it must deal with it head-on.
In the face of surging international public opinion, the United States finally stood up and openly gave a clear response to the copper needle issue in the "Hivolt Plan."
They promised the outside world that the copper needles that were sent into space would gradually fall back into the atmosphere in the next few years.
The United States not only made clear the timeline for the return of the copper needle to the atmosphere, but also further explained the scientific basis and rigorous logic behind this decision.
The U.S. side stressed that they have a careful plan and strict control over the process of the copper needle's return to the atmosphere, and will track the trajectory and status of the copper needle in real time through advanced technical means to ensure that it falls according to the predetermined time and route.
But the launch is simple, how easy is it to control and recover?
In order to satisfy the international community, the United States has also deliberately cited a series of scientific bases and data.
They presented in detail the properties of the copper needle material, the results of the study on the influence of the space environment on it, and the data that accurately simulates the trajectory of the copper needle in space.
However, they kept their promises, but they did not want to have irreparable consequences for the whole world.
Even, their so-called "safe fall" measures have once again aggravated the destruction of space.
05. The same spacecraft has passed through the chest
In fact, in the vast snowy regions of the Arctic, there are already many copper needles that have fallen from the "Hivolt Project". The sheer number of these tiny copper pins is staggering.
According to the investigation, an iceberg called "T1" in the North Pole alone dropped nearly 20,000 copper pins.
As a responsible country, although the United States said that it would do its best to recycle, the target of these copper needles was extremely small, the density was too low, and they blended with the snow, making it extremely difficult to search, and finally reluctantly chose to give up.
In addition, the complexity and uncertainty of the space environment meant that the "recovery project" to track the copper needles never achieved its intended goals.
Now, half a century has passed since the implementation of the "Hivolt Project", but the "legacy" left by this plan - the hundreds of millions of copper needles suspended in space, is still floating leisurely in the Earth's orbit.
These tiny copper needles may seem insignificant in space, but they are like invisible landmines that can trigger a chain reaction at any time.
Each needle is like a tiny blade, unscrupulously passing through the spacecraft of many countries, resulting in damage to the equipment, which affects the normal operation of the spacecraft, and even a devastating explosion.
In 2013, for example, a Russian spacecraft picked up signals from these copper pins, but the copper pins penetrated the spacecraft's hull, causing a short circuit in the circuitry, a fuel leak, and a paralysis of the control system.
At present, the spacecraft has lost contact with the ground and has become a "vagabond" in space.
Epilogue:
Science and technology are a double-edged sword, and human beings must also assume corresponding responsibilities when enjoying the convenience brought by scientific and technological progress.
The "Hivolt Plan" is undoubtedly harmful to others and not to itself, and such a selfish behavior of the United States has also led to lifting a stone and shooting itself in the foot!
On March 10, 2021, a U.S. satellite burst and disintegrated.
Moreover, the destruction of space by the United States has now also affected China, for example, the destruction of Yunhai-1 02 satellite was not destroyed by the Internet, but also hit the space junk of the United States.
Today, we still hope that the copper needles launched by the United States can fall back to the earth safely and smoothly, and we also hope that countries around the world can be vigilant.
After all, space is not American, but for all mankind.