Can ISS be destoryed by atomic bomb?

[garyw]

See this ->

0:56 into the video.

 

[Turbinator]

That's from 2012, right?

No, its from a game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a very crappy game.

 

[Ark]

No, its from a game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a very crappy game.

MW2 was awesome, five hours of interactive action movie.

 

[SiberianTiger]

See this ->

Not sure how it was supposed to take off from Mars.

 

[Urwumpe]

So if there's no blast wave from a nuke in space, how was Project Orion supposed to worK?

By creating an artificial blast wave in space - directed towards the spacecraft was a special cone of dense material, which was heated by the nuclear explosion and directed towards the spacecraft as plasma cloud.

Still, such a blast wave has a very low range, since it's power drops by inverse square.

 

[Wolfer]

Not sure how it was supposed to take off from Mars.

The Orion itself was never intended to land. Instead it would carry chemical fueled landers to ferry the crew to and from the planet/moon.

Concerning the damage from an atomic bomb, If the bomb wasn't close enough to vaporise the satellite, wouldn't it still suffer severe structural damage from the sudden heating of it's hull (i.e, it would get buckled a lot)?

 

[adamb193]

This is what I think they are referencing.

 

[Turbinator]

Here is another clip this one is in very high HD, also the audio isn't so muted.

 

[Andy44]

Sure, it will melt or vaporize the spacecraft if it's close enough.

To use nukes as anti-spacecraft weapons might work better if you designed them as directed energy charges, similar to the Orion charges, and then guided them to the target like an air to air missile with a proximity warhead. Then you'd get more blast overpressure effect on the target.

The EMP requires a thin atmosphere according to wikipedia, and the ISS is not high enough to be immune. So it's toast.

 

[Unstung]

How are you sure the ISS is not high enough to be immune? It's a vacuum up there.
Oh, the ISS is in the Thermosphere?

No, its from a game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a very crappy game.

Another reason not to buy the game.

 

[Bj]

How are you sure the ISS is not high enough to be immune? It's a vacuum up there.
Oh, the ISS is in the Thermosphere?

According to this;
http://www.coolmath.com/

at 346KM altitude;

0.05649 (N / (m^2)) = 8.1931818 × 10-6 pounds per square inch

If that actually makes it immune or not, I wouldn't know...

 

[tori]

The ISS orbits at around 350 km ASL while EMPs go off at altitudes in the 400-500 km ASL range.

 

[garyw]

The ISS orbits at around 350 km ASL while EMPs go off at altitudes in the 400-500 km ASL range.

Not true.

"HARDTACK-Teak was an exoatmospheric nuclear test performed during Operation Hardtack I. On 1 August 1958, the shot detonated at an altitude of 76.8 km. Teak caused communications impairment over a widespread area in the Pacific basin. This was due to the injection of a large quantity of fissionionosphere. The debris prevented normal ionospheric reflection of high-frequency (HF) radio waves back towards Earth, which disrupted most long-distance HF radio communications. The nuclear detonation occurred at 1050 UCT on 1 August 1958 (which was 11:50 p.m., Johnston Island local time, on 31 July 1958).[1] "

 

[tori]

Not true.

What do you mean "not true"? Just because you quoted one particular low altitude test doesn't mean that high altitude firings don't exist.

Examples would be the US Starfish Prime project at 400 km or even better the Soviet K Project which swept through different altitudes and yields to map the relations between them and the resulting EMP (with the strongest EMP effect being at 290 km ASL, not too far from the ISS butter zone).

Edit: the 290 km EMP induced currents of 1500 to 3400 A in a ground-based telephone wire grid and torched down a power plant in a nearby town. Imagine the effect on the ISS if it were at worst directly overhead (~50 km). And even if it survived, the resulting radiation belt would finish it.

Additional references: 1

 

[Unstung]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_altitude_nuclear_explosion
Argus III, a 1.7kt bomb, was detonated at 540 kilometers in 1958.

 

[garyw]

What do you mean "not true"? Just because you quoted one particular low altitude test doesn't mean that high altitude firings don't exist.

Your comment was an absolute so I posted to explain that EMP effects have been tested at lower altitudes.

And I know about Starfish Prime.

 

[RangerPL]

ANYTHING can be destroyed with an atom bomb if you get a big enough one.

 

[garyw]

Then again, why waste a nuke when an ASAT can do the job just as well?

 

[T.Neo]

Then again, why waste a nuke when an ASAT can do the job just as well?

Because the nuke takes out everything else in orbit as well. :lol:

 

[Ark]

Seems like an ASAT would be the best way to go. The EMP from a nuke will cause all sorts of problems on the ground and cost a lot more, while a little bitty ASAT can blow the station open and depressurize it in a matter of seconds.