Can ISS be destoryed by atomic bomb?

[SiberianTiger]

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

Could be useful if one has got no sort of ASAT, but still has got a nuke.

 

[the.punk]

I think the ISS structure would survive the bomb. But the crew would not because of the gamma rays when the bomb is near. Also there could be an neutron bomb which is an special fusion bomb that has lower explosion force but releases an high level of neutron radiation.

 

[Andy44]

According to what I've read, a fission bomb produces a bigger EMP than a big fusion bomb. So bigger is not always better.

 

[Sky Captain]

With all these problems with EMP what is the minimum safe altitude to fire up nuclear pulse drive without damaging satellites?

 

[T.Neo]

With all these problems with EMP what is the minimum safe altitude to fire up nuclear pulse drive without damaging satellites?

AFAICT, the end of the magnetosphere.

 

[Urwumpe]

AFAICT, the end of the magnetosphere.

Negative. Nuclear explosions can produce their own magnetic field, thanks to the miracles of plasma physics.

 

[T.Neo]

Negative. Nuclear explosions can produce their own magnetic field, thanks to the miracles of plasma physics.

I fail to see how a magnetic field produced by a nuclear detonation in Mars orbit will harm satellites within Earth's magnetosphere...

 

[tori]

I think it's going to be a little bit further than the end of our magnetosphere, all it takes for an EMP to form is a strong enough burst of x-rays to hit a gas cloud, creating plasma, and a magnetic field to convey electrons from this plasma cloud down to LEO (or wherever we don't want it).

I believe our safe distance would be outside of our magnetosphere (~15 Earth radii facing Sun) plus some kind of a safe margin to ensure that the x-ray burst would be weak enough when it reaches the magnetosphere.

garyw, oh, fair enough then (the misunderstanding was caused by different meanings of unquantified sentences in English and Czech, in this case the meaning was supposed to be ...while some EMPs... lesson learned).

 

[Urwumpe]

I fail to see how a magnetic field produced by a nuclear detonation in Mars orbit will harm satellites within Earth's magnetosphere...

A CME is also not more than a nuclear explosion.

 

[Sky Captain]

The bombs for nuclear pulse propulsion were supposed to be a shaped charge type directing most of the energy toward the pusher plate, also the bomb were enclosed in some sort of propellant that would absorb the radiation and create a jet of plasma. Would`t these properties make some difference in EMP produced from propulsion bombs vs normal bombs? It seems that if initial X and gamma ray burst were absorbed by propellant there should be less EMP than from normal nuclear explosion.

 

[T.Neo]

A CME is also not more than a nuclear explosion.

Yes but it is also far more powerful.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yes but it is also far more powerful.

Power is negotiable.

You could maybe even detect a nuclear explosion on Mars as increased plasma flux...but even a Tsar bomba should be pretty minimal.

 

[RangerPL]

Couldn't the heat wave from the nuke just ignite all the oxygen on the station?

 

[Urwumpe]

Couldn't the heat wave from the nuke just ignite all the oxygen on the station?

No. Oxygen does not ignite at all. You can only trigger combustion reactions with oxygen by higher heating, but the temperature is rather high, you would need to heat the inside of the spacecraft to 250°C to ignite the less well protected stuff.

Since you can only transfer heat in space by radiation and a spacecraft is deflecting at least 95% of the incoming radiation, a pretty hard task. You would get mechanical damage on the inside of the spacecraft first (spalling of the inside walls), before you create local heat islands INSIDE the spacecraft.

 

[John_L]

thermal radiation (a subset of all the radiation in a nuclear explosion) does NOT need air to propagate. It simply radiates through space.

It doesn't? Then how does heat get from the Sun to the Earth?

 

[the.punk]

It doesn't? Then how does heat get from the Sun to the Earth?

The sun emittes UV, infrared rays. This is the energy that comes from the sun. Also other radiation out of the spectrum.

 

[Urwumpe]

It doesn't? Then how does heat get from the Sun to the Earth?

By electromagnetic waves - or thermal radiation, which is a subset of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves need no medium for travel, since it is propagated by the means of photons.

 

[the.punk]

By electromagnetic waves - or thermal radiation, which is a subset of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves need no medium for travel, since it is propagated by the means of photons.

Exactly. ^^