Why cant I Launch nukes into space to hit alien ships?

[WolfBaneX12]

We had the tech in the cold war to hit Satellites with missiles, so why don't we have the ability to hit ships in low to mid orbit with missiles from the surface?

[Galroche]

well, you can have ground to space defence later, but they only shot back, you can't attack first, because that would be mean toward the hostile alien invader .

[WolfBaneX12]

Originally posted by Galroche:

well, you can have ground to space defence later, but they only shot back, you can't attack first, because that would be mean toward the hostile alien invader .

Why only relatiltory? Who thought that was a good idea?

[LAJ-47FC9]

Nuclear weapons aren't nearly as scary in space anyway: most of the boom in atmosphere comes from the hyperenergetic particles released interacting with the atmosphere to make pressure gradients and all that.

It'd still cause a Big Problem that could prevent you from going to space today, but it'd mostly be from radiation, which falls off very quickly over distance - and their PD could probably take the nuke out before it reaches effective range. You'd be far better off using the radiation flash to blind sensors before your real missile volleys come in.

... however, yes, it would be nice to be able to try.

[WolfBaneX12]

Originally posted by LAJ-47FC9 (Liara):

Nuclear weapons aren't nearly as scary in space anyway: most of the boom in atmosphere comes from the hyperenergetic particles released interacting with the atmosphere to make pressure gradients and all that.

It'd still cause a Big Problem that could prevent you from going to space today, but it'd mostly be from radiation, which falls off very quickly over distance - and their PD could probably take the nuke out before it reaches effective range. You'd be far better off using the radiation flash to blind sensors before your real missile volleys come in.

... however, yes, it would be nice to be able to try.

What would be nice would to be able to arm normal space stations with weapons, and it dosnt have to be nuclear, hell you can get rail guns early why cant I make a big ass rail gun and shoot down their smaller ships?

[Riftwalker]

Originally posted by WolfBaneX12:

Originally posted by LAJ-47FC9 (Liara):

Nuclear weapons aren't nearly as scary in space anyway: most of the boom in atmosphere comes from the hyperenergetic particles released interacting with the atmosphere to make pressure gradients and all that.

It'd still cause a Big Problem that could prevent you from going to space today, but it'd mostly be from radiation, which falls off very quickly over distance - and their PD could probably take the nuke out before it reaches effective range. You'd be far better off using the radiation flash to blind sensors before your real missile volleys come in.

... however, yes, it would be nice to be able to try.

What would be nice would to be able to arm normal space stations with weapons, and it dosnt have to be nuclear, hell you can get rail guns early why cant I make a big ass rail gun and shoot down their smaller ships?

because you can do this. layered defence module.

[Galroche]

Originally posted by WolfBaneX12:

Originally posted by LAJ-47FC9 (Liara):

Nuclear weapons aren't nearly as scary in space anyway: most of the boom in atmosphere comes from the hyperenergetic particles released interacting with the atmosphere to make pressure gradients and all that.

It'd still cause a Big Problem that could prevent you from going to space today, but it'd mostly be from radiation, which falls off very quickly over distance - and their PD could probably take the nuke out before it reaches effective range. You'd be far better off using the radiation flash to blind sensors before your real missile volleys come in.

... however, yes, it would be nice to be able to try.

What would be nice would to be able to arm normal space stations with weapons, and it dosnt have to be nuclear, hell you can get rail guns early why cant I make a big ass rail gun and shoot down their smaller ships?

you do have modules doing that, they'll upgrade their weapons along your tech research (though they are pretty lame and not worth the spot and upkeep IMO)

[ijiero]

Exploding a nuclear missile in space is a VERY bad idea. The electromagnetic pulse goes on for longer distances, and would literally knock out all the (unprotected: non military) satellites on the side of the Earth the missile blew up in. The ones on the other side of Earth would follow in the months after due to "radiation belts".

Funny how you mention the cold war, because one of the only things the USA and USSR agreed on and made a pact, is to never use nuclear weapons in space. After a few high altitude tests which caused blanket power failures, (look up Starfish Prime; that one destroyed some of the earliest commercial satellites) they quickly realised the dangers. It's called The 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

Back then, there were very few satellites. If we did it these days... it'd wipe out about thirty years of technological progress. Your smartphone for one would be a brick in function. Anyway, I'll stop here because this is turning into a rant. :)

[WolfBaneX12]

Originally posted by ijiero:

Exploding a nuclear missile in space is a VERY bad idea. The electromagnetic pulse goes on for longer distances, and would literally knock out all the (unprotected: non military) satellites on the side of the Earth the missile blew up in. The ones on the other side of Earth would follow in the months after due to "radiation belts".

Funny how you mention the cold war, because one of the only things the USA and USSR agreed on and made a pact, is to never use nuclear weapons in space. After a few high altitude tests which caused blanket power failures, (look up Starfish Prime; that one destroyed some of the earliest commercial satellites) they quickly realised the dangers. It's called The 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

Back then, there were very few satellites. If we did it these days... it'd wipe out about thirty years of technological progress. Your smartphone for one would be a brick in function. Anyway, I'll stop here because this is turning into a rant. :)

Interesting about the radiation and aftermath of a nuclear explosion in orbit, well could just fire large continental missiles possibly in large quantities. With maybe better ranges with research

[Imp0815]

Originally posted by Galroche:

well, you can have ground to space defence later, but they only shot back, you can't attack first, because that would be mean toward the hostile alien invader .

Dude this is hard scify - nobody would shoot at aliens with thier defensive weapons.

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by WolfBaneX12:

Interesting about the radiation and aftermath of a nuclear explosion in orbit, well could just fire large continental missiles possibly in large quantities. With maybe better ranges with research

Wouldn't work.

Possibly you haven't yet fought the aliens? But they have significant thrust and lots of delta-V.

Meanwhile, ICBMs are not designed to engage targets in space to begin with, let alone pursuing an evading target.

You could probably cludge the missiles to explode up in space, but the aliens would casually wander out of their path and be totally unharmed.


I, on the other hand, would ask why you can't shoot down nuke attacks with your orbital forces.

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by ulzgoroth:

Originally posted by WolfBaneX12:

Interesting about the radiation and aftermath of a nuclear explosion in orbit, well could just fire large continental missiles possibly in large quantities. With maybe better ranges with research

Wouldn't work.

Possibly you haven't yet fought the aliens? But they have significant thrust and lots of delta-V.

Meanwhile, ICBMs are not designed to engage targets in space to begin with, let alone pursuing an evading target.

You could probably cludge the missiles to explode up in space, but the aliens would casually wander out of their path and be totally unharmed.


I, on the other hand, would ask why you can't shoot down nuke attacks with your orbital forces.

2nd October post. You're days late to continue this conversation.

[Barleyman]

Originally posted by ijiero:

Exploding a nuclear missile in space is a VERY bad idea. The electromagnetic pulse goes on for longer distances, and would literally knock out all the (unprotected: non military) satellites on the side of the Earth the missile blew up in. The ones on the other side of Earth would follow in the months after due to "radiation belts".

Funny how you mention the cold war, because one of the only things the USA and USSR agreed on and made a pact, is to never use nuclear weapons in space. After a few high altitude tests which caused blanket power failures, (look up Starfish Prime; that one destroyed some of the earliest commercial satellites) they quickly realised the dangers. It's called The 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

Back then, there were very few satellites. If we did it these days... it'd wipe out about thirty years of technological progress. Your smartphone for one would be a brick in function. Anyway, I'll stop here because this is turning into a rant. :)

What radiation belt? Radiation is not green smoke that hangs around, its a short intensive pulse and the fissile material is expelled at great speed in all directions, not hanging around in orbit. In any case all satellites are radiation hardened due to cosmic radiation and solar wind.

As for EMP, it is not known how it'd work on modern electronics as the wire lengths are tiny compared to 60s stuff. So there's hardly any length of wire for the voltage to be inducted on. Probably still gets cooked as electronics is much lower voltage but there's no (publicly available) test data and it's not like e.g. US has done any nuclear tests for a long time. French might have some relatively recent data but electronics has shrunk even more since then.

As for EMP, it disperses with distance, same as radiation.

Telephone lines are especially suspectible since that's a nice long wiring hanging out. Kind of on its way out, though. Electric lines are also nice but given that the equipment has to survive lightning, it probably can handle EMP.

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by Mistfox:

2nd October post. You're days late to continue this conversation.

Tell it to the necromancer!

[LAJ-47FC9]

Originally posted by Ohramies:

Originally posted by ijiero:

Exploding a nuclear missile in space is a VERY bad idea. The electromagnetic pulse goes on for longer distances, and would literally knock out all the (unprotected: non military) satellites on the side of the Earth the missile blew up in. The ones on the other side of Earth would follow in the months after due to "radiation belts".

Funny how you mention the cold war, because one of the only things the USA and USSR agreed on and made a pact, is to never use nuclear weapons in space. After a few high altitude tests which caused blanket power failures, (look up Starfish Prime; that one destroyed some of the earliest commercial satellites) they quickly realised the dangers. It's called The 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

Back then, there were very few satellites. If we did it these days... it'd wipe out about thirty years of technological progress. Your smartphone for one would be a brick in function. Anyway, I'll stop here because this is turning into a rant. :)

What radiation belt? Radiation is not green smoke that hangs around, its a short intensive pulse and the fissile material is expelled at great speed in all directions, not hanging around in orbit. In any case all satellites are radiation hardened due to cosmic radiation and solar wind.

Charged particles - one of the more common types of radiation - can and do get trapped in magnetic fields all the time. In fact, that's why Jupiter is such a pain in the ass to live around, because of the abundance of charged particles from the sun, cosmic rays, and so on.
Now, sure, charged particles aren't the most unpleasant type of radiation by a long shot (hello, neutron radiation!) but it won't do you any good regardless.

[Barleyman]

Yes, I know what Van Allen belts are, but nukes are big on gamma and neutron radiation, not so much on high-energy protons. And neutrons are, well, neutral, they are by definition charged particles.

You do get helium 2He4 from deuterium-tritium fusion, but the energy is fairly puny, nothing like cosmic radiation protons.

Charged particles are common in solar wind, it's common because of that hydrogen fusion ball generating lots of it, not that bomb D-T fusion is big on it.