Lead:
In many people's memory, the American moon landing can be described as the earliest "space feast", but this moon landing event has a strange participant.
The participant did not travel to the moon on purpose, but because of a nuclear test that accidentally propelled him into space, making it the fastest flying object ever made.
So what is the origin of this manhole cover named "Well Test No. 1"?
How did it fly out of the solar system?
How "Manhole Cover No. 1" was born.
Spacewalking is not an easy task for humans, as we not only need to solve technical problems such as spacecraft propulsion and gravity, but also face extremely harsh conditions in the space environment, such as life-threatening high radiation, cosmic dust, micrometeors and even air currents.
And, as space activities continue to unfold, space junk is becoming more and more abundant, as many as thousands of asteroids and comets are facing the erosion of space junk, including the wreckage of human spacecraft.
Although the success rate of human launches has been very high, after all, there is still a certain failure rate in the space environment, and the wreckage of these spacecraft and other space junk may also endanger the safety of the probe at any time, and even endanger human life.
Therefore, all countries attach great importance to the safety of the probe, hoping to carry out the maximum comprehensive effect observation with the minimum risk range, and send the probe out of the solar system with the fastest speed and the most accurate technology.
In 1958, in order to become the first country to send a man-made spacecraft out of the solar system, the United States began to plan the "Parker Probe" program.
The "Parker Probe" program is to be able to send space probes out of the solar system in a short time, and in order to achieve this goal, American scientists have made a lot of improvements to the shape of the probe.
Since the "Parker Probe" needs to fly beyond the heliocentric distance when it is launched, the spacecraft is mainly improved in terms of speed and maneuverability when improving its design, so that it can take advantage and fly out of the solar system as soon as possible.
However, as improvements were proposed, American scientists found that neither the acceleration nor the maximum speed could meet the requirements of this mission, and the human spacecraft could no longer be improved.
In order to achieve this goal as soon as possible, American scientists have turned their attention to other "spacecraft", and they believe that the atomic bomb, which already has extremely high speed, may be applied to the "Parker probe".
Soon after, a new type of thruster was born that was used by American scientists as an atomic bomb, named the "New Horizons" thruster, which uses the light pressure of the sun to propel the spacecraft, and the atomic bomb contained in it is a thermonuclear fuel that can continuously launch the high-energy photons it produces to propel the spacecraft.
The principle of this thruster is similar to that of the rocket thruster invented by humans, but its propulsion effect is much higher than that of rocket thruster, and in addition, the thruster can reach a propulsion speed of 3000-5000 km/s.
"Manhole Cover No. 1" unexpectedly lifted into the air at unimaginable speed.
On March 4, 1963, as the first "photopower" spacecraft in the history of American spaceflight, the "Parker Probe" was finally successfully launched, and this launch event was undoubtedly a very happy ceremony.
However, just when scientists were rejoicing in the success of the American Space Society, they unexpectedly found that under the launch of the "Parker probe", a thing that was originally ignored by people was also unexpectedly "arguable", because such a thing is "faster" than the "Parker probe", what kind of "spacecraft" is this?
Under the curious eyes of everyone, a scientist took out a computer to calculate it, and finally came up with a data that everyone couldn't believe - this is a "manhole cover"!
After calculation, the speed of this "manhole cover" spacecraft is not only 10 times faster than that of the "Parker probe", but also the speed of flying out of the solar system is also an astonishing more than 40,000 kilometers per second, which is beyond the scope of not only human level, but even the speed of rockets!
How did this "manhole cover" fly out of the solar system?
Did it fly out of the solar system?
In order to solve the doubts in everyone's minds, let people understand its speed more intuitively.
American scientists simulated the flight path of this "manhole cover", but the final result was very surprising, and the simulated flight path was exactly the same as the flight path of the "Parker probe" out of the solar system.
After some comparison, scientists finally came up with the source of the "manhole cover" - it turned out to be an accident during a nuclear test.
On July 9, 1958, the United States conducted a nuclear bomb test in Summerke, which used several "Volcano"-class nuclear warheads, one of which failed and did not explode at the specified altitude.
With the end of the test, people thought that these nuclear warheads had left everyone's lives "forever", but they did not expect that this malfunctioning nuclear bomb "stirred up a thousand waves with one stone" and was dragging a huge "stone" to escape.
Due to the malfunction, the nuclear bomb broke free from the shell and "escaped", but because it was not a "normal" atomic bomb, it was just an "expired" atomic bomb that could only be used for blasting or testing new explosion-proof materials, so the "nuclear warhead" did not have a nuclear bomb lock, so that it had no "weight".
In the process of the escape of this nuclear warhead, its speed has also been accelerated by "a lot", and in this way, the nuclear warhead with no gunpowder inside and no gunpowder outside has become a mysterious "spaceship" for "wandering around".
Later, the nuclear warhead was relocked by the U.S. government into the nuclear bomb casing at the time of development, and then buried in the ground as ashes of a nuclear warhead to balance the incident, and the nuclear warhead, which was finally known as "Manhole Cover No. 1", disappeared.
Where is "Manhole Cover No. 1" now?
In the following decades, the discussion of "Manhole Cover No. 1" was gradually forgotten in the summer, and the "Parker probe" also "flew away" to outer space for the next 60 years.
And the "Manhole Cover No. 1" also slept in the ground until 2009, when people suddenly remembered it, and the United States dug up the nuclear warhead "Manhole Cover No. 1", which was intended to be reburied in the nuclear bomb casing, and after some "refurbishment", it was successfully auctioned for $4,950.
This incident also led to a re-analysis of the "Manhole Cover 1", and finally concluded that it did not fly out of the solar system, but was the result of the presence of a space probe and "Manhole Cover 1" at the same time.
Therefore, after this nuclear test, "Manhole Cover No. 1" has never appeared again, and no one has ever tried to "explore the solar system" with a nuclear warhead, which also makes "Manhole Cover No. 1" always just "a story".
Epilogue:
The biggest obstacle preventing humans from flying out of the solar system is not spaceship technology, but the internal life activities.
This is not only the probe, but also the "Manhole Cover No. 1", but also the space explorers of the American Space Association and various countries.
The speed at which it "flew out of the solar system" was more than 40,000 km/s, but the speed of the rocket was only a few kilometres per second, so no one confirmed how the "Manhole Cover No. 1" "flew out of the solar system", so where did it go?
This is where people are confused, when people study the "Parker probe" that "flew out of the solar system", they found that its simulated flight path is exactly the same as the flight path of "Manhole Cover 1", so it is speculated that "Manhole Cover 1" did not really "fly out of the solar system", so people do not know where it went.