00:00That's no moon. It's a space station.
00:03Oh, wait a second. No, sorry, that's the wrong franchise. I do apologize.
00:08Ah, yes, it is a moon. In fact, our moon.
00:13And today, we're on it.
00:15There really isn't much to do around here.
00:17But in the 1950s, the US military was making various plans on how to wage war on the moon.
00:24Now that might seem a bit odd, considering that there's nothing on the moon to wage war at.
00:29But back in those days, America was getting just a little bit paranoid.
00:34It had good reason to be.
00:36The USSR had taken an early lead in the space race.
00:40Launching the world's first satellite in 1957.
00:44And the first human in space in 1961.
00:48Hey, look! Vodka in space! Ha!
00:51To many US military leaders, a Soviet base on the moon no longer sounded all that implausible.
00:57Which is why they commissioned a plan on how to deal with one.
01:02Do do!
01:03There's a base on the moon.
01:05Do do!
01:05And we need to deal with it.
01:08Do do!
01:08Because it's not ours.
01:12Of course, it is worth noting that not all military plans are created equal.
01:17Nor do they reveal an intent on actually following through with what the plans describe.
01:21Most plans are made because, well, planners learn how to plan by making plans.
01:27Even extremely unlikely plans.
01:30And as the saying goes, failure to plan is planning to fail.
01:34That's how you get plans like the US War Plan Red.
01:38Which described how America would wage war against the British Empire.
01:44And, spoiler alert, it involved occupying Canada.
01:48Ah yes, we love Canada.
01:49Don't forget to break for moose.
01:51Not the chocolate kind.
01:53You see, the legs go over the bonnet and then the big bit comes in and...
01:56Oh, nasty business.
01:57Anyhow, in general, the more likely a war is, the more concrete its plan will be.
02:03Sometimes quite literally.
02:05For example, the French poured almost 4 million tons of concrete on their border with Germany,
02:12as part of their contingency plans after the First World War.
02:15Although we all know how that turned out.
02:17On the other end of the spectrum, you have plans that are so unlikely that they never move
02:22beyond the drawing board.
02:24Collecting dust until they're eventually declassified and cause a diplomatic scandal.
02:30We love a diplomatic scandal, don't we?
02:32The US plan for war on the moon fell into the latter category.
02:36It was called Project Horizon.
02:39And its goal was to determine the feasibility of building a base on the moon.
02:45Fair enough, wouldn't you think?
02:46On the topic of what to do in case there was an enemy base on the moon,
02:50the plan was quite simple.
02:51The US would nuke it.
02:52This action, of course, would not be without consequences,
02:56which the US military explored in another plan called Project A-119.
03:02Its aim was to detonate a nuclear device on the moon and to see what would happen.
03:07But since such an explosion would be visible from Earth, the plan was never carried out.
03:13And what if the moon actually blew up and disappeared?
03:16Well, where would all the tides be?
03:18Arrr!
03:18Where be my tides?
03:20I go out and catch fish, but my boat?
03:22Eww!
03:22She doesn't have any water underneath.
03:24I be high and dry.
03:25There was, however, a similar plan that did get carried out.
03:29Operation Fishbowl, which sought to detonate nuclear weapons in space.
03:35Five such detonations were made over the course of 1962, about 900 miles from Hawaii.
03:42But the physicists vastly underestimated the range of the weapon's effects.
03:48Err, Kevin, I think we've vastly underestimated the range of the weapon's effects.
03:52Control-Z, Control-Z, undo, undo!
03:54The largest detonation, which yielded an impressive 1.4 megatons of TMT, knocked out 300 streetlights
04:03and a couple of ukuleles, I'm sure, and brought down the telephone network on the islands.
04:09Interestingly enough, in 1962, the USSR also detonated five nuclear weapons in space.
04:17Then, when both sides were done with their tests, they turned around and got most of the world to sign
04:23a treaty,
04:23preventing nuclear detonations in space and above ground.
04:28And, presumably, preventing everyone from learning what they had learned.
04:32A similar treaty was signed in 1967 that, among other things, demilitarized the moon.
04:38And that marks the end of the potential for space war.
04:41Well, at least on the moon, anyway.
04:43If they follow the agreement.
04:45I'm sure they will.
04:46Maybe.
04:47In reality, various space-to-space, air-to-space and ground-to-space weapons
04:52have continued to be developed and tested since these treaties have been signed.
04:57Initially, it was a race between the US and the Soviet Union.
05:01But after its demise, new challenges have emerged.
05:05Both China and India have successfully tested anti-satellite missiles,
05:10which coincidentally have also helped make space look like a junkyard, sadly.
05:15Though that's a discussion for another time.
05:17In the end, while the moon might not become a battlefield any time soon,
05:22it may very well become inhabited within our lifetimes.
05:25Either as a way station for further exploration of our solar system,
05:29or as a commercial mining operation.
05:32We have found a reservoir of chocolate fudge.
05:36Over.
05:36We are in the money.
05:38Repeat.
05:38We are in the money.
05:40So, hey, maybe us being on the moon won't sound so crazy one day.
05:45Because giant steps are what you take when you're walking on the moon.
05:49Sorry.
05:50Good joke.
05:50In any case, my fellow cosmonauts, thank you for watching this YouTube presentation.
05:57And all that.
05:58Please send us a few likes if you enjoyed this video,
06:01perhaps on a ballistic trajectory.
06:03And consider supporting me on Patreon.
06:06Beaming these videos into space isn't exactly cheap, you know.
06:11Anyhow, I shall look forward to speaking to you again from outer space,
06:15yes, the last frontier,
06:18in another two weeks for the next stellar installment of SideQuest.
06:28Closed Transmission.
06:30Closed Transmission.
06:30Closed Transmission.
06:31Closed Transmission.
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