stellar hydrogen bomb
Names: stellar hydrogen bombsuperbombstellar bomb
First appears in Book 2: The Dark Forest, chapter 6 (Year 20, Crisis Era)
Appearances
B1
B2
B3
What you know
Book 2: The Dark Forest
- Ch 6The first stellar hydrogen bomb has a projected yield of 350 megatons, seven times the largest hydrogen bomb ever built by humanity.
- Ch 6The stellar hydrogen bomb could only be tested in space because an Earth test risked quakes and tsunamis and a high-orbit test risked a catastrophic electromagnetic pulse.
- Ch 7Over five thousand were made, mostly during the Great Ravine; many are stored in space, and Fog Umbrella ships near Neptune carry some.
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 6Mercury underground test
The stellar hydrogen bomb is detonated in a shaft on Mercury at one-third the planned depth, throwing up a mountain of rock, a five-minute fireball, and a ring around the planet.
- Book 2 · Ch 7The probe goes dark
The Trisolaran probe's engines go out, making it untraceable; Kuhn and Robinson, hampered by fleet disputes, decide to try a stellar bomb near Neptune to create a dust cloud to detect it.