Word: argus
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Dates: during 1960-1960
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...autumn of 1958, the U.S. exploded three rocket-launched nuclear bombs 300 miles above the South Atlantic. Purpose of the explosions, known as Project Argus, was to test the theory that charged particles released by the blasts would be trapped in the earth's magnetic field like the sun-borne particles of the Van Allen radiation belt (TIME, March 30, 1959). The experiment worked fine, but when the New York Times finally broke the story six months later, U.S. authorities were disturbed at the "breach of security" involved. And even after most details of Project Argus became public knowledge...
...spread as waves, moving with almost the speed of light. At almost the same instant, Soviet monitoring stations in the Pacific, in Central Asia, on the Black Sea, and near Murmansk in extreme northwestern Russia recorded the waves clearly. After studying the records, Dr. Troitskaya decided that the final Argus blast on Sept 6, exploded a small fraction of a second from 10 hr. 12 min. 34 sec. p.m. Greenwich mean time. At last week's end this figure was still classified information...