Editing Project Vela (section)

==Early history==
In August 1959, several groups focused on detecting underground nuclear tests were established within the US Department of Defense; on September 2, 1959, the Secretary of Defense assigned the research responsibilities to the [[Advanced Research Projects Agency]] (ARPA). This initial assignment involved seven tasks:<ref>The Advanced Research Projects Agency, 1958-1974, Barber Associates, December 1975, pages IV-28 to IV-29.</ref> creating a worldwide network of standardized seismological stations; conduct research relating to underground test detection, and on seismic detection stations; conduct nuclear and chemical underground tests to expand knowledge of seismic signatures; and three tasks of a more administrative nature. From the beginning, however, and through 1960, ARPA pressed to add research for testing surface-based, atmospheric, and outer-space detonations, and advocated satellites as a potential platform for such detections.<ref>Barber Associates, loc. cit.</ref>

The Vela Project started as a small budget research program within the [[Advanced Research Projects Administration|DARPA]]<ref name=":0" /> Projects Agencies until 1961 when it was granted greater funding and resources through the authority of the [[Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army]].<ref name=":0" /> This was likely prompted by increased caution over Domestic Nuclear Affairs resulting from the [[1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash]] as well as in anticipation of the 1963 [[Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty|PTB Treaty]].

The initial project was limited to the development of the Vela Satellites, but was later expanded and reorganized into three distinct levels of monitoring: 

# [[Vela Uniform]], which was the portion of the project dedicated towards monitoring seismic signals, in order to detect underground and underwater nuclear testing
# [[Vela (satellite)|Vela Hotel]], which was a continuation of the satellite program to detect nuclear testing solely beyond the atmosphere at an extended range 
# [[Vela (satellite)|Vela Sierra]], which was a set of advanced satellites that were designed to detect testing both in the close reaches of outer space and within the atmosphere of the planet itself. 

The project's space and atmospheric divisions operated until the emplacement of satellites in the [[Defense Support Program]] (DSP), and were later integrated into the [[Global Positioning System]] set of satellites. Currently, all satellites under Project Vela are under the management of [[Nuclear MASINT|IONDS]]. The seismic division of Project Vela remains in activity today.

In 2020, [https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/national-security-science/index.php ''National Security Science''] magazine featured an article on Project Vela titled "Cold War watchmen" that contained a description of the project history focusing on the contributions made at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]], as well as commentary from scientists that worked on the project.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Grant|first=Virginia|year=2020|title=Cold War watchmen|url=https://www.lanl.gov/discover/publications/national-security-science/2020-summer/vela-feature.shtml|journal=National Security Science}}</ref> In the article astrophysicist Ed Fenimore states "Vela was the prototypical project that made Los Alamos the premier scientific national security laboratory in the world." Data from Project Vela is still used for national security work, and sensors, such as those developed in the project, are still an important part of nuclear detonation detection.