XPost: sci.military.moderated   
   From: dirk@neopax.com   
      
   Gordon D. Pusch wrote:   
      
   > "Paul F Austin"  writes:   
   >   
   >   
   >>"Greg" wrote   
   >>   
   >>>"Dirk Bruere at Neopax"  wrote   
   >>>   
   >>>>A megaton nuke exploded in space will wipe out every bit of unshielded   
   >>>>electronics for around 800 miles around the ground zero.   
   >>>>That means computers, car ignition systems, telephones, radios, TVs etc   
   >>>>It would wipe out a modern nation's economy overnight.   
   >>>   
   >>>Many backup generator systems are unlikly to be affected. Wipe a   
   >>>modern nations economy--i doubt it. Unless the economy was already in   
   >>>big decline and fall. Life would go on.   
   >>>   
   >>>Note that many space based sats will *not* be affected ie   
   >>>geo-stationary sats   
   >>   
   >>Actually, the prompt dose from a megaton exoatmospheric detonation would   
   >>kill every non-military geo-sat in line of sight. With no atmospheric   
   >>shielding, the dose rate would cause catastrophic damage to many systems at   
   >>that distance.   
   >   
   >   
   > I think you are forgetting about a little thing called "The Inverse Square   
   Law"...   
      
   We could try some figures.   
   1Mt detonation with (say) 25% of its energy as X and Gamma radiation.   
   That's around 10^15 Joules   
   The surface area of a 2000km dia sphere is 4 * pi * 10^12 m^2 = approx 10^13   
   sq m   
      
   So at 1000km we have a radiation dose of 100J per sq m, which is probably close   
   to fatal for electronics.   
      
   So at a guess, 1000km is around the nearest 'safe' distance.   
      
   --   
   Dirk   
      
   The Consensus:-   
   The political party for the new millenium   
   http://www.theconsensus.org   
      
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