Lena Lang: Inspired by US, China may Blow Up the Moon as space is the new battleground for military supremacy

Lena Lang: The Evil Empire has a secret blueprint known as Project A119 to blow up the Moon with Hydrogen Bomb!

Project A119, as it was known, was a top-secret proposal to detonate a hydrogen bomb on the Moon.

China could try to ‘blow up the Moon’ with nuclear weapons as space the new battleground

China could be inspired by the US’ plan to nuke the moon as major powers grapple for military supremacy.

The Express — China could use a blueprint set by the US to blow up the Moon with a nuclear missile, an expert has warned.

Space looks set to become the next battleground for international supremacy as Russia reportedly plans to send nuclear weapons beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.

Moscow has denied the claims, but the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Mike Turner, warned of a “national security threat”.

While military capability in space has become an increasingly prevalent issue in recent years, the US was exploring bizarre plans for nuclear weapons in space decades ago.

One expert believes that China could be inspired by this to try and hit the Moon with a nuclear weapon.

In the 1950s, the US considered plans to strike the Moon with a nuclear weapon as a show of force to the Soviet Union.

Known as Project A119, the top-secret plot would have seen a hydrogen bomb used to attack the Moon.

Hydrogen bombs were much more powerful than the atomic bomb used to attack the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.

In 1962, the U.S. blew up a hydrogen bomb in space that was 100 times more powerful than Hiroshima

The US gave their backing to Leonard Reiffel, one of America’s leading nuclear physicists, and Enrico Fermi, the creator of the world’s first nuclear and known as the “architect of the nuclear bomb” to pursue the project.

The plan was for the weapon to strike the Moon at the Terminator Line – where the light and dark sides of the Moon met.

At the time, many in the US feared that Russia was racing ahead in the arms race as well as the space race.

In 1954, father of the hydrogen bomb Edward Teller presented Sundial, a conceptual hydrogen bomb with a yield of 10 gigatons. Under the right conditions, this would start fires as far as 250 miles, an area the size of France. Work continued for several years after, with a test planned for 1956

In 1957, US newspapers reported that the Soviets were planning to nuke the moon themselves.

The Soviets did indeed conjure up a similar plan but eventually ditched it due to fears the weapon could drop back down on Soviet territory.

Mr Reiffel said in 2000 that the American’s plan was “technically feasible”.

Bleddyn Bowen, an expert in international relations in outer space, told the BBC in May 2023 that China could be inspired by the US’ abandoned plot.

He said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a community in China now wanting to push some of these ideas because they think the Moon is cool, and they work in the military.”

Mr Bowen added: “Project A119 reminds me of the segment in The Simpsons when Lisa sees Nelson’s ‘Nuke the Whales’ poster on his wall. And he says, ‘Well you’ve got to nuke something.’

“These were serious studies, but they didn’t get any serious funding or attention when they left the space community. It was part of the late 50s, early 60s space mania before anybody knew exactly what nature the Space Age was going to take.

“If there is going to be anything resembling this kind of lunar hysteria again it is going to run afoul of the established international legal order… agreed by almost every state in the world.”

According to the South China Morning Post, China and Russia both discussed “outer space security” and AI weapons during a diplomatic meeting in January.

Last year, the US warned Beijing and Moscow it is “ready to fight tonight in space if we have to.”

Brig Gen Jesse Morehouse at US Space Command said: “If someone was to threaten the United States of America, or any of our interests, including those of our allies and partners with whom we have treaties of mutual defence support, we are ready to fight tonight.”