![]() The Soviet Union’s detonation (October 30, 1961) of its 50-megaton Tsar Bomba (the “King of Bombs”), was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever designed (about 10 times the combined power of all the conventional explosives used in World War II). Among other things, this made it possible to avoid touching the earth's surface during an explosion and to avoid radioactive contamination of the soil, as well as the rise of radioactive dust into the atmosphere. Sakharov suggested testing a two-stage version of the bomb. An additional 50 megatons could be provided by the third stage, consisting of "cheap" natural uranium-238, but it was he who would cause radioactivity. Soviet scientists developed a three-stage bomb design, which made it possible to achieve a yield of 101.5 megatons. It is believed that the Tsar Bomb was intended to be such a three stage device, but for the test a lead jacket was substituted for uranium. A third stage can be added in which a uranium jacket containing the two state device is detonated, in which case possibly half the yield of the bomb would come from fission, not fusion. Just as in the sun, the chain reaction in the second stage fuses the hydrogen atoms into heavier helium atoms and releases vast amounts of energy in the process. In a typical two-stage weapon, the fissile materials detonate first to compress and heat the fusion fuels, such as hydrogen isotopes tritium and deuterium, to tens of millions of degrees. Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev threatened, “The 50-and 100-megaton bombs will always hang over their heads like the sword of Damocles”.įusion bombs actually work by both fission and fusion. As Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev prepared to test a 50-megaton bomb, Americans pressured the United Nations to propose banning the detonation, fearing the impact such an explosion would have on the world. Nuclear weapons and the fear of annihilation framed Cold War diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. ![]() The total energy of the explosion, according to various estimates, ranged from 57 to 58.6 megatons of TNT, or about 2.4 × 1017 J, which corresponds to a defect of mass 2.65 kg. ![]() The development team included B.Sakharov, B.Adamski, N Babaev, N.Smirnov, Yu Trutnev and others. group of nuclear physicists headed by Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Igor Kurchatov. The AN602 thermonuclear bomb was, developed in the USSR in 1954-1961 gg. The device was variously named AN602 and also (erroneously) RDS-202 and RN202). When the nation's population was informed of the test, the actual charge yield was not noted. Indeed, such a test was conducted at Novaya Zemlya, but with an actual yield of 58 Mt (by some accounts. Khrushchev, made an announcement at the 22nd Congress of the CPSU regarding the planned, 30 October 1961 test of the most powerful hydrogen bomb in the world (the number 100 megatons was stated). In October, 1961, the General Secretary of the CPSU, N.S. This Proton SL-9 is a two stage launch vehicle ICBM concept, the precursor to the four stage SL-12 Proton-Zond manned lunar circumnavigation spacecraft prototype and later SL-12 three stage Proton-Salyut/Mir/ISS launch vehicle. The bomb could have been delivered to targets in the United States using the large UR-500 rocket. The Tsar Bomba (“King of Bombs”) hydrogen bomb, tested at 50 megatons but designed to yield 100 megatons, is the largest-ever nuclear device to have been detonated. Due to its size and yield the Tsar made a huge, international political and military splash, but in reality it was impractical for military use. It had a designed yield of 100 megatons but was tested at half that yield, in part so that the plane that dropped it would have time to fly to safety. But in the summer of 1961, another escalation of the conflict happened - in Berlin they began to erect a wall, American troops invaded Cuba, which prompted the Soviet government to give the go-ahead for the resumption of nuclear weapons tests. In fact, a product with a capacity of 100 megatons was ready for testing in 1959, but Nikita Khrushchev hoped to improve relations with the United States, and therefore ordered to postpone the launch. "Tsar Bomba", "Kuz'kina Mother", "Product V" "Kuz'kina Mat", Vanya, Big Ivan or simply "Ivan" - all these names were firmly entrenched in the AN602 product, which was created for many years by a group of physicists led by Igor Kurchatov: Andrei Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babaev, Yuri Smirnov, Yuri Trutnev and others.
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