Thermonuclear · France · 1968
Canopus
Canopus test
The most powerful French nuclear test, which made France the fifth thermonuclear power.
See Canopus in the 3D simulator- Yield
- 2.6 MtDocumented
- Energy
- 10.9 PJ
- Type
- First French thermonuclear test
- Period
- Cold War
- Status
- Single test
Canopus releases about 170 times the energy of Little Boy (Hiroshima, 1945).
Key points
- Came 16 months after China’s first thermonuclear test.
History
Carried out at Fangataufa, it heavily contaminated the atoll, which remained off-limits for several years.
- 1966 Testing begins in French Polynesia.
- 24 August 1968 Canopus test: 2.6 Mt.
- 1996 End of French nuclear testing.
How does it work?
A thermonuclear weapon (“H-bomb”) first uses a fission explosion, which creates the extreme conditions needed to fuse light nuclei (hydrogen isotopes).
Fusion releases a lot of energy per unit of mass and is not limited by a critical mass: this is what makes the megaton range and beyond possible.
One megaton (Mt) is the energy of one million tons of TNT, about 4.2 × 10¹⁵ joules.
Deliberately general explanations: the application provides no design or manufacturing information.
Frequently asked questions
How powerful is Canopus?
Canopus has an estimated yield of 2.6 Mt of TNT equivalent, about 10.9 PJ of energy.
What is the history of Canopus?
Single test, on 24 August 1968, in French Polynesia. Carried out at Fangataufa, it heavily contaminated the atoll, which remained off-limits for several years.
What does the Canopus explosion look like?
The Bomb Simulator shows the fireball, shock wave and cloud of Canopus at real scale, over Paris, London or New York, with the sources and reliability of each value.
Sources
- Canopus (nuclear test) — Wikipedia (overview, to be cross-checked)
Other weapons
- Trinity — 25 kt
- Little Boy — 15 kt
- Fat Man — 21 kt
- RDS-1 — 22 kt
- Hurricane — 25 kt
- RDS-6s — 400 kt
- Gerboise Bleue — 70 kt
- 596 — 22 kt
- Davy Crockett — 20 t
- Ivy Mike — 10.4 Mt
- Castle Bravo — 15 Mt
- RDS-37 — 1.6 Mt
This application is an educational tool. The animations and effect zones are simplified representations meant to illustrate orders of magnitude. They are neither a prediction of the effects of a real weapon nor a military planning tool.