What If The Most Powerful Nuclear Bomb Explodes In Space

During the Cold War, the US government launched a 1.4 megaton bomb into space. Starfish Prime, as the test was called, was the highest-altitude nuclear test in history. But what would happen if we tried the same experiment with a 50 megaton bomb, like the record-setting Tsar Bomba?

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Following is a transcript of the video:

Imagine if we detonated a nuclear bomb in space? Actually, you don’t have to.

You can see it for yourself. That was Starfish Prime — the highest-altitude nuclear test in history. In 1962, the US government launched a 1.4 megaton bomb from Johnston Island. And detonated it 400 km above the Pacific — about as high as where the International Space Station orbits today.

The detonation generated a giant fireball and created a burst of energy called an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that expanded for over 1,000 kilometers.

EMPs can cause a power surge, damaging electronic equipment in the process. And this one was no different. Across Hawaii, street lights went dark, telephones went down, and navigation and radar systems went out, not to mention the six, or so, satellites that failed.

And all this came from a 1.4 megaton bomb. Tsar Bomba, which was the largest nuclear bomb that has ever been detonated, was 50 megatons.

So what would happen if we detonated that above the United States?

For starters, there's no atmosphere in space. So, there would be no mushroom-shaped cloud and no subsequent blast wave or mass destruction. Instead, you’d get a blinding fireball 4 times the size of Starfish Prime’s. And if you looked directly at it within the first 10 seconds, you could permanently damage your eyes.

Satellites wouldn’t be safe either. Radiation from the explosion would fry the circuits of hundreds of instruments in low-earth orbit. Including communication satellites, military spy satellites, and even science telescopes like the Hubble.

Plus, astronauts on board the International Space Station might be at risk of radiation poisoning.

On the ground, however, you’d probably be fine. The detonation point would be far enough away that the high-energy radiation wouldn’t reach you.

But don’t get too comfortable. Remember Starfish Prime’s EMP? This time, the EMP would cover ⅓ of the entire United States, bringing down regional power grids and electronics like a lightning strike.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. The radiation would also interact with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere and create a spectacular aurora near the detonation site, that would last for days.

Now, let’s be clear. This will probably never happen. Super-thermonuclear devices like the Tsar Bomba no longer exist. And even if they did, the Tsar Bomba weighed around 27,000 kilograms. There are only a couple of operational rockets in the world that could manage to lift something that heavy into space in the first place.

So we're probably safe from that, anyway. This video was made in large part thanks to the calculations from physicists at Los Alamos National Lab.

[jacobbales]

It’s 5 in the morning and I randomly thought to myself “What would happen if an atomic bomb went off in space?” Thanks for answering my question lol

[Suefore-blni]

What I learn from school: 10%
What I learn from YouTube: 90%

[adventureswithfrodo]

FYI it was NOT a fireball. Fire is combustion and without Oxygen there can be no Fire. It was photon being emitted by the nuclear reaction.
Like a lighting strike, wrong again.

[dalesmith]

I was an Air Training Corps cadet in Nelson, New Zealand. We had gone outside after sunset to do star navigation fieldwork. We saw an amazing aurora display resulting from the Starfish explosion. It was far more intense than anything I ever saw during 3 years of hunting and hiking in northern Alberta in Canada a decade later.

[shazrael]

2:30
An Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country?

[Aska]

But one advantage tho .




No school for the day :)

[emmajay]

Flashbacks of Captain Price destroying the ISS

[miroslawczajka]

You forgot one significant thing: ALL computers and any other devices based on microchips would be permanently damaged without possibility of fixing. The microchips would have their structure physically destroyed. Only tube-based electronics would survive. I wouldn't dare to say that electricity returns within hours or days - all control devices in the grid would be irreversibly destroyed and the outage will last much much more than days... I won't mention all the systems like: cash machines, banking system, the WHOLE Internet, mobile networks - everything permanently destroyed by the EMP.

[jimbobzooter]

Anyone here after the “russian nuke in space” news story?

[vishnugrande]

*WARNING:* Immature fart commentors below may get on your last nerve

[just-a-silly-goofy-guy]

Would the ozone layer dissolve just like spiderman?

[soul]

Nuke: Explodes in space and blinds me
Mom: *You're still going to school*

[toasteroven]

Tsar Bomba was very inefficient (and old), which is why it was so heavy, nowadays you could probably make a bomb like that much lighter.

[rohtansh]

A summary of the comments in 3 words...
1) Kim Jong Un
2) Trump
3) Farts

[thelonelypigeon]

Well there's always ICBMs. Just redirect it to higher altitudes. And with current tech. Megatons isn't the issue, it's the radiation intensity and amount that counts. Also with the countless missile silos and nuclear subs that carry the nukes? It's likely it can happen. Sometimes, destruction isn't always a kaboom. It's the silence.

[nexart_]

“PRICE, THE SILO DOORS ARE OPEN! I REPEAT, THE SILO DOORS ARE OPEN!”
“Good.”
“WAIT, PRICE.NO!”
“WE HAVE A CONFIRMED NUCLEAR MISSLE LAUNCH, CODE BLACK, CODE BLACK!”

[Alxium]

Man YouTube really kicking it up a notch with these recommendations.

[goobot]

So it would be pretty strategic to do this over an enemy country before attacking

[YKES]

July hearing **probably**
July: Write that Down! Write that down!

[theinternet]

Fun fact :
Tsar bombs's full capacity was 100MT but it was exploded with half power