Paranoia Strikes Deep
During the summer of 1963, Earth looked a tiny bit like Saturn. That
year the United States launched half a billion whisker-thin copper wires
into orbit in an attempt to install a ring around the Earth. It was
called Project West Ford, and it's a perfect, if odd, example of the
Cold War paranoia and military mentality at work in America's early
space program.
The Air Force and Department of Defense envisioned the
West Ford ring
as the largest radio antenna in human history. Its goal was to protect
the nation's long-range communications in the event of an attack from
the increasingly belligerent Soviet Union.
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