Investigating the allegations of Indian nuclear test preparations in the Rajasthan desert

This paper describes how commercial satellite imagery was used along with news reports and published scientific articles to investigate the December 1995 allegations of Indian nuclear test preparations in the Rajasthan Desert. Taking the allegations against India as an example of a future CTB compliance dispute, the investigation was conducted to test the utility of commercial satellite imagery for CTB verification. The technical inquiry produced a series of findings on India's nuclear testing history and on the recent nuclear test allegations. These findings included the exact location of the subsidence crater created by the May 18, 1974 nuclear test, the discovery of an adjacent military range near Khetolai village, and the observation of recent large-scale, unusual activity at this military range in the immediate vicinity of the 1974 test site. The image-derived information was used to sift fact from fiction in the conflicting media reports. It was then integrated into the collection of credible evidence and analyzed to determine whether the observed activity at the Khetolai military range was conventional, missile testing, nuclear, or innocuous.

Article access: Taylor & Francis Online | Free PDF