Bhangmeter

[4] These tests lay the groundwork for a large deployment of nationwide North American bhangmeters with the Bomb Alarm System (1961–1967).

US president John F. Kennedy and the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty on August 5, 1963,[5] under the condition that each party could use its own technical means to monitor the ban on nuclear testing in the atmosphere or in outer space.

[7] The Vela satellites were the first space-based observation devices jointly developed by the U.S. Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission.

[9][10][11] The silicon photodiode sensors are designed to detect the distinctive bright double pulse of visible light that is emitted from atmospheric nuclear weapons explosions.

The fireball continues to cool down so the amount of light eventually starts to decrease, causing the second peak observed by the bhangmeter.

The name is derived from the Hindi word "bhang", a locally grown variety of cannabis which is smoked or drunk to induce intoxicating effects, the joke being that one would have to be on drugs to believe the bhangmeter detectors would work properly.