in 1957 the US government launched a highly classified an enormously expensive Cold War project to build a nuclear weapon that was to be superior to any that had come before it it's terrifying capabilities threatened to unleash both physical and psychological destruction in the Soviet Union codenamed project Pluto the program dared to imagine a nuclear-powered cruise missile that would roared over 150 decibels the early years loud as a space launch just above the treetops at supersonic speeds the shock wave alone would cause immense damage on the ground yet it also be equipped to carry 16 or more hydrogen bombs as it flew over enemy territory spewing atomic exhaust particles out of its unshielded reactor it would be called a supersonic low-altitude missile or slam an acronym that some believed should have stood for slow low and messy project Pluto the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed the world forever introducing humanity to the very real threat than any major international altercation could become the last with the USSR launching Sputnik the world's first satellite that same year the u. s. worried that the Soviets would win the space and missile races the United States needed ambitious projects to counter both the perception of Soviet excellence and the threat the other superpower posed in addition to the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile Arsenal's that have developed and continued to build the US Air Force wanted a third type of weapon capable of delivering nuclear retaliatory strikes against the USSR and other potential hostile actors concern of her possible Soviet anti-ballistic missiles took hold of American militants and scientists if the Soviet Union found a way to halt or fully combat US attacks and retaliatory moves it would pose a tremendous national security risk for the West the Air Force wanted to build something revolutionary that would give the u.
s. the upper hand in almost any situation to build this new weapon of mass destruction which the Air Force hoped would be completed and ready for use by 1965 the Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission selected the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore California on January 1st 1957 the research project with virtually no known cap on spending or accountability to Congress was named project Pluto the goal was to figure out a way to use nuclear reactors to power a missile that could in turn drop nuclear bombs an eight square mile 21 square kilometer facility was built outside of Livermore on the southwest basin of the Nevada National Security site once the project was underway costing 1.
