Project Thor: The Covert Operation That Proposed Putting Weapons In Space
Imperial War MuseumsProject Thor took the concept of “lazy dog bombs” like the ones pictured above and amplified it.
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. deployed “Lazy Dog” bombs from airplanes, which were simply solid steel pieces with fins more akin to giant bullets than explosive bombs. Ever since, a version of this idea has been kicked around on a much larger scale.
As We Are The Mighty explains, this idea was developed as Project Thor. But instead of dropping steel pieces from 3,000 feet, the U.S. Air Force devised a plan to drop giant “telephone pole-sized” tungsten rods measuring 20 feet long and one foot in diameter from outer space.
And instead of reaching speeds of 500 miles per hour like their predecessors, the so-called “Rods from God” would gather such velocity that they could smash into the earth at 10 times the speed of sound.
TwitterHow the “rods from God” might look if they were ever developed.
The “Rods of God” idea has several advantages. It could pierce easily into the earth and obliterate any underground bunkers. Moreover, it would land with an explosion equal to a nuclear bomb — without causing a nuclear fallout.
Project Thor also has the advantage of skirting the law. The Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 by 107 countries, including the United States, prohibits the use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons from space. But, technically, such non-explosive tungsten rods would be allowed under the treaty’s terms.
Still, a weapon is a weapon. SFGate points out that tungsten rods falling from the heavens could cause problems. Given that they are meant to penetrate deep into the earth, it could be unclear what exactly they hit. And they could even encourage countries to build nuclear weapons beneath sprawling civilized areas.
For now, like many of the government operations on this list, “Rods from God,” are only theoretical. We still don’t know if they’ll ever be put into practice. Yet, according to Business Insider, the idea was still being considered as recently as the George W. Bush administration “to hit underground nuclear sites in rogue nations in the years after 9/11.”
After reading through these nine government operations, look through this list of history’s 10 most famous spies. Or, see how the British managed to fool the Nazis using a dead body with Operation Mincemeat.
