One of the Starfish detonations sizzled the electronics in Telstar, the first active communications satellite.
Starfish was hastily done as a response to the USSR’s “Tsar Bomba” test.
Steeley; See the USAF link in post 21
“In the aftermath of the Starfish Prime detonation, reports would identify several incidents in which permanent damage to electrical lines and equipment was attributed to the blast. This included up to eight known satellites that operated in Low Earth Orbit, the region in
which the detonation occurred, that were completely destroyed. Perhaps even more troubling
was the simultaneous destruction of a series of streetlights in Oahu Hawaii, located 800 miles
from the epicenter of the detonation. It was at this moment the potentially devastating effects of
electromagnetic pulse, commonly referred to as EMP became known.”
I wonder, were there Freepers at Pearl Harbor/Scofield in 1962 who witnessed the street lights going out?