The Vela Incident - Nuclear Test or Meteoroid?

[Englander]

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 190
Edited by Jeffrey Richelson

Late in the evening of September 21, 1979 at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, technicians from the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), the organization responsible for running the U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System, conducted a routine readout of a Vela satellite, designated Vela 6911, which had been launched on May 23, 1969.

The first two Velas had been launched in 1963. Vela 6911, which orbited the earth at an altitude of 67,000 miles, carried a variety of equipment to detect the numerous signatures associated with atmospheric nuclear detonations. In addition to sensors to detect gamma rays, x-rays, and neutrons, the Vela satellite also carried two bhangmeters - sensors which could detect the light flashes associated with a detonation, which included an initial brief but intense flash, and a subsequent, longer lasting flash.

In conducting their readout the AFTAC technicians saw a double humped signal that corresponded to the double flash associated with a nuclear explosion. In the 41 previous occurrences when a Vela satellite detected such a double flash (including the 12 Vela 6911 detections), subsequent data confirmed that a nuclear detonation had actually occurred. The signal Vela 6911 had apparently detected came from a remote region of the world, for the territory in view of its bhangmeters encompassed 3,000 miles in diameter - the southern tip of Africa, the Indian Ocean, the South Atlantic, and a bit of Antarctica. The detection took place at about 3:00 a.m. local time, September 22.

The detection raised the possibility that some nation, particularly South Africa or Israel, or the two in collaboration, had conducted a covert test. South Africa was believed to have been preparing for a nuclear test in August 1977 before Soviet and U.S. satellites detected the preparations, and diplomatic pressure caused the South Africans to deny any such plan. Israeli-South African cooperation had been reported in a variety of media sources, although the specifics were often obscure.

More at;
National Security Archive

[dipsydoodle]

1. See also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1244834&mesg_id=1244834

[Poll_Blind]

2. More information on the Israeli nuke test and apartheid S.A. participation

At the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Quite a thorough workup.

PB