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From: muller@ecn.purdue.edu (Mark B. Muller)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Nuclear weapons effects in space
Message-ID: <1991Jan17.054106.29774@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 17 Jan 91 05:41:06 GMT
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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From: muller@ecn.purdue.edu (Mark B. Muller)

   I am in the pocess of writing a game for simulating combat in outer space in
the far future, and I have a question;  what are the effects of nuclear weapons
in outer space?  I know that there would be no compression wave due to the lack
of a medium, but how intense would the radiation put out be.  For example, how
far away could the effects of a small device cause structural damage to steel?
What about a large device?  How well can electronics be hardened against damage?

   Also, how might nuclear devices be optimized for this enviroment, and how 
could their energy be used.  For example, I remember seeing the SDI proposal to
use a nuclear device the power an X-ray laser generator; are their any other
similar type uses that people can dream up?

   I realize that this discussion is probably not appropriate for sci.military, 
but I figured people on this group would be most likely to know.  Therefore,
please respond via e-mail. If there is interest, I will post a summary.

   Thanks in advance.

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  *  Mark Muller                  Undergraduate at Purdue University        *
  *  muller@gn.ecn.purdue.edu     Aeronautics & Astronautics Engineering    *
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