A nuclear weapon detonated 60 miles above the Earth’s surface could leave almost all low-flying satellites useless within weeks, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported this week (see GSN, Sept. 17).

The electromagnetic pulse generated by the explosion and the “Christofilos Effect” — the creation of an artificial radiation belt around the Earth — could cripple “low Earth orbit” satellites and with them many of the world’s communications systems, Jane’s reported.

A high-altitude explosion “produces an artificial radiation belt that, within weeks to at most months, delivers a lethal dose of radiation to satellites,” said Dennis Papadopoulos, a scientist at the University of Maryland who worked with Nicholas Christofilos, who predicted the effect.

“If someone were to explode a 10-kiloton nuclear weapon at a high enough altitude over their own territory, 90 percent of the world’s low Earth orbit satellites would be lost within a month,” Papadopoulos said.

The only firsthand knowledge and data on this problem came from six nuclear explosions in space during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, all of which took place before the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty.  All seven satellites then orbiting were damaged or destroyed.  There are now more than 250 satellites in low Earth orbit.

While some military satellites have been hardened and might withstand the explosion, many civilian satellites would be lost, including those used by the military.  Deployed U.S. forces, especially in North Korea or Iraq, could lose contact with headquarters in the United States.  Aircraft within line of sight of the explosion would lose all electronic capabilities as well.

Any state with nuclear capacity and the ability to launch a satellite can detonate a high-altitude nuclear explosion, Jane’s reported.  A militarily cornered country might detonate a weapon in space to demonstrate its nuclear ability.  A high-altitude detonation might also occur if a country fires a nuclear missile and an anti-ballistic missile intercepts it.

North Korea, Iran and Iraq are the most likely to use a high-altitude detonation as a tactical maneuver because they are developing equipment with that capability and they have little to lose in space, Jane’s reported.  Faced with U.S. intelligence, North Korea last week revealed it has a nuclear weapons program (see GSN, Oct. 18).

The military response to a high-altitude nuclear detonation is difficult because a nuclear retaliation against a population is not equivalent to a pre-emptive nuclear strike against satellites, Jane’s reported (Ian Steer, Jane’s Defense Weekly, Oct. 23).

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