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The Vela incident was an unidentified double flash of light detected by an American Vela Hotel satellite on 22 September 1979 near the South African territory of Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean, roughly midway between Africa and Antarctica. Today, most independent researchers believe that the flash was caused by a nuclear explosion[1][2][3]—an undeclared joint nuclear test carried out by South Africa and Israel.[4][5]
The cause of the flash remains officially unknown, and some information about the event remains classified by the U.S. government.[5] While it has been suggested that the signal could have been caused by a meteoroid hitting the satellite, the previous 41 double flashes detected by the Vela satellites were caused by nuclear weapons tests.[6][7][8]
- ^ "Declassified documents indicate Israel and South Africa conducted nuclear test in 1979". 9 December 2016.
- ^ Johnston, Martin (13 August 2018). "Researchers: Radioactive Australian sheep bolster nuclear weapon test claim against Israel". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
- ^ De Geer, Lars-Erik; Wright, Christopher M. (2018). "The 22 September 1979 Vela Incident: Radionuclide and Hydroacoustic Evidence for a Nuclear Explosion" (PDF). Science & Global Security. 26 (1): 20–54. Bibcode:2018S&GS...26...20D. doi:10.1080/08929882.2018.1451050. ISSN 0892-9882. S2CID 126082091.
- ^ Von Wielligh, Nic; Von Wielligh-Steyn, Lydia (2015). The Bomb – South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Programme. Pretoria, ZA: Litera. ISBN 978-1-920188-48-1. OCLC 930598649.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
NSArchivewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Albright 1994, p. 42.
- ^ Ruina 1980.
- ^ Richelson 2006.