Subject: Nuking LEO: DNA chief comments
From: thomsona@netcom.com (Allen Thomson)
Date: 1995/05/04
Message-Id: <thomsonaD82rz2.26J@netcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.space.policy
Some months ago we had a brief exchange concerning the
possibility that a Wicked Entity possessing one or a few
nuclear bombs might use them to wipe out all or most
satellites in LEO/MEO by increasing the population of trapped
electrons in the Van Allen belts. This option could be
attractive to the W.E., as it avoids a homeland attack
against a country which might itself possess a significant
nuclear arsenal and be inclined to retaliate in kind.
Although not directly fatal to anyone, such a "Van
Allen" attack could be extraordinarily disruptive of the
world's economy, and cause widespread loss and suffering. I
think of it as being a really effective version of what
Saddam Hussein tried to do when he released oil into the
Persian Gulf and torched the Kuwaiti oilfields.
Apparently El Jeffe del DNA agrees, as this item
appeared in the latest issue of AWST:
Doomsday Scenario
Aviation Week and Space Technology, 1 May 1995, p. 21
Rogue nations with only a few nuclear weapons could
choose to attack their larger, better armed foes
indirectly, according to Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth
Hagemann, director of the Defense Nuclear Agency. He
claims a 50-kiloton nuclear weapon exploded 62 mi.
above the Earth would "pump up the Van Allen radiation
belt[s]" to the extent that increased exposure would
cause satellites to "die in hours, days or weeks. The
effects could last for months." Hagemann warns that the
loss of satellites could wreak havoc, for example, with
the ever more important information highway and with
the world banking system. He also points out that
satellites are becoming more vulnerable to various
kinds of radiation. As electronics are miniaturized,
they require less power and thus are susceptible to
smaller disruptions, according to the DNA boss. And as
satellites stay aloft longer, radiation effects on them
accumulate.
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