The Trinity test was preceded by a full test with the Pu replaced by some other material. The inert test was designed to test whether they were getting the needed compression. (My impression is this was not publicly known until relatively recently)
I know they did many tries for the implosion mechanism. Didn’t know they did a full “dress rehearsal” where it sounds like they had every component including the casing present. Smart.
My point is there was still at least a 10 percent chance of failure even if you do all that. So many variables, just 1 dress rehearsal test is inadequate. You would almost have to have robots make several hundred complete devices, test the implosion on them all, to improve your odds. (And even today robots are incapable of building something this complex)
The Trinity test was preceded by a full test with the Pu replaced by some other material. The inert test was designed to test whether they were getting the needed compression. (My impression is this was not publicly known until relatively recently)
I know they did many tries for the implosion mechanism. Didn’t know they did a full “dress rehearsal” where it sounds like they had every component including the casing present. Smart.
My point is there was still at least a 10 percent chance of failure even if you do all that. So many variables, just 1 dress rehearsal test is inadequate. You would almost have to have robots make several hundred complete devices, test the implosion on them all, to improve your odds. (And even today robots are incapable of building something this complex)