Shoebox-Sized 'Detector Satellites' Could Sniff Out a Nuclear Bomb In Space (space.com) 28
A new study proposes using shoebox-sized detector satellites to sniff out nuclear weapons launched by adversary nations. The idea is aimed at addressing fears that a space-based nuclear detonation could destroy satellites across low Earth orbit and make some orbits unusable for years. Space.com shares the findings from a new paper authored by Areg Danagoulian, an associate professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: No reliable way currently exists to detect and defuse a nuclear bomb in space. Danagoulian proposes a constellation of small "9U" cubesats, each one about the size of a large shoebox and each carrying a special detector capable of sensing radiation emitted by unexploded nuclear bombs. He explores a scenario in which Russia launches a suspected space nuke into an orbit with an altitude of 1,200 miles (2,000 km). That number is not random. In 2022, Russia's Kosmos 2553 satellite, orbiting at that exact altitude, triggered suspicions it might be testing components for a future orbital nuclear weapon.
Russia claims the satellite just observes Earth. At that altitude, the satellite passes through the Van Allen belt, a region of intense cosmic radiation trapped by Earth's magnetic field. Most of the belt stretches between altitudes of around 600 miles (1,000 km) to tens of thousands of miles, but in some areas the radiation can reach much closer to Earth's surface. The interaction between the fissile material inside the nuke and the energetic particles from the radiation belt would create distinct signatures, Danagoulian said, which could help confirm whether a suspicious satellite carries a nuke or not.
"The thermonuclear weapon would contain a significant amount of uranium," Danagoulian said. "The high-energy protons [in the uranium] would break up when another proton is coming in and shred the nuclei. That would knock out a large number of neutrons. This interaction turns that device into a very intense neutron source that otherwise would not be there." he process is known as proton-induced neutron spallation, which essentially means the ejection of fragments from material triggered by impacts of protons. The detector satellite Danagoulian proposes would have to be able to get quite close to the suspect spacecraft -- a few kilometers.
The inspector spacecraft would carry a sensor combining two types of detectors. At the heart of the device is a neutron scintillator, which detects all incoming neutrons and protons. Around it is a "cage of diamond" detector that detects only neutrons -- not protons. Such a set-up helps filter out the particles present in the environment naturally, said Danagoulian. In addition, by using two "planes of neutron detectors," the sensor can determine the direction from which the neutrons arrived. "If the external diamond detector triggers and gives a signal, you can ignore the particle, because it's most likely a proton and not a neutron," said Danagoulian. "Once you identify those neutrons, by having those two detections, you can back project and find out where the neutron came from."
Danagoulian says such a nuke sniffer would have to be launched into an orbit aligned with that of the suspicious satellite and creep up as close as 2.5 miles (4 km) from it. It would then take about a week to gather enough measurements to confirm whether the object is hiding a nuke or not. A constellation of 10 such satellites could reduce the process to mere hours, Danagoulian said. If a nuke were detected, the military could then try to jam the satellite's communications link from the ground, making it impossible for the adversary to remotely detonate the bomb. There is currently no technology available to safely defuse a nuclear weapon in space. [...] Danagoulian also suggests that high-grade radiation hardening could improve satellites' chances of surviving a nuclear winter in space. The paper has been published in the journal Nature.
Russia claims the satellite just observes Earth. At that altitude, the satellite passes through the Van Allen belt, a region of intense cosmic radiation trapped by Earth's magnetic field. Most of the belt stretches between altitudes of around 600 miles (1,000 km) to tens of thousands of miles, but in some areas the radiation can reach much closer to Earth's surface. The interaction between the fissile material inside the nuke and the energetic particles from the radiation belt would create distinct signatures, Danagoulian said, which could help confirm whether a suspicious satellite carries a nuke or not.
"The thermonuclear weapon would contain a significant amount of uranium," Danagoulian said. "The high-energy protons [in the uranium] would break up when another proton is coming in and shred the nuclei. That would knock out a large number of neutrons. This interaction turns that device into a very intense neutron source that otherwise would not be there." he process is known as proton-induced neutron spallation, which essentially means the ejection of fragments from material triggered by impacts of protons. The detector satellite Danagoulian proposes would have to be able to get quite close to the suspect spacecraft -- a few kilometers.
The inspector spacecraft would carry a sensor combining two types of detectors. At the heart of the device is a neutron scintillator, which detects all incoming neutrons and protons. Around it is a "cage of diamond" detector that detects only neutrons -- not protons. Such a set-up helps filter out the particles present in the environment naturally, said Danagoulian. In addition, by using two "planes of neutron detectors," the sensor can determine the direction from which the neutrons arrived. "If the external diamond detector triggers and gives a signal, you can ignore the particle, because it's most likely a proton and not a neutron," said Danagoulian. "Once you identify those neutrons, by having those two detections, you can back project and find out where the neutron came from."
Danagoulian says such a nuke sniffer would have to be launched into an orbit aligned with that of the suspicious satellite and creep up as close as 2.5 miles (4 km) from it. It would then take about a week to gather enough measurements to confirm whether the object is hiding a nuke or not. A constellation of 10 such satellites could reduce the process to mere hours, Danagoulian said. If a nuke were detected, the military could then try to jam the satellite's communications link from the ground, making it impossible for the adversary to remotely detonate the bomb. There is currently no technology available to safely defuse a nuclear weapon in space. [...] Danagoulian also suggests that high-grade radiation hardening could improve satellites' chances of surviving a nuclear winter in space. The paper has been published in the journal Nature.
Good news comrad! (Score:1)
Bombs are set to detonate if they ever lose communication for more than a week!
It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday. As you know, the Premier loves surprises.
Re: (Score:2)
1) If the countermeasure is to jam the nuke's communications, then the obvious response is to rig the bomb to detonate automatically if it loses contact with command and control for too long.
2) But this approach only works as an effective deterrent if the other side - the one doing the jamming - knows that that will be the result.
In other words: it's very much like the ending of Dr. Strangelove.
Re: (Score:2)
2) But this approach only works as an effective deterrent if the other side - the one doing the jamming - knows that that will be the result.
I guess they could have it, after an appropriate time without comms, key up on the ICAO emergency frequency and start broadcasting its intentions. "Thank you for jamming the satellite communications! This satellite will self-destruct in two minutes and 45 seconds." Wouldn't be the first time Russia did something like this. [wikipedia.org] Remains open to dispute whether the other major nuclear power(s) have done so as well.
Re: (Score:2)
I guess they could have it, after an appropriate time without comms, key up on the ICAO emergency frequency and start broadcasting its intentions. "Thank you for jamming the satellite communications! This satellite will self-destruct in two minutes and 45 seconds."
"I'm a 30 second bomb! I'm a 30 second bomb! 29... 28... 27..."
Re: (Score:3)
If the countermeasure is to jam the nuke's communications, then the obvious response is to rig the bomb to detonate automatically if it loses contact
Not even the craziest nuclear states have implemented a nuclear device that fails unsafe. In all cases, a chain of all-in-agreement affirmative steps must be taken to arm, target and detonate a nuclear device. If someone implemented the scenario you describe, they have just handed a free nuclear weapon to anyone who can cause a comms jam. $BADACTOR can hold everyone to ransom by holding the comms offline and demanding a payout (or a release of prisoners, or whatever they want).
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget China and Russia, which have their own military satellites in orbit.
I'd imagine that the EU does as well, although those are probably more multi-purpose communication and weather observation satellites.
Re: (Score:2)
Not very useful (Score:2)
Re:Not very useful (Score:4, Interesting)
Nukes in space aren't all that useful anyway. Very expensive, vulnerable because you can't hide a satellite, and offering little over submarine launched ICBMs.
First strikes are pointless because submarines will launch a second strike back at you. If the satellites can't be hidden they aren't much good for second strikes either.
Re: Not very useful (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
Interesting. Might be effective against the less sophisticated systems that North Korea and Israel have. I'd imagine that the French and US and Russian ones are probably radiation hardened though.
Re: (Score:2)
Right. And Starfish Prime was launched into an orbit where it remained for days before it was detona....
Oh wait no, it was a regular old ICBM that was set to detonate early.
Re: (Score:2)
But damn it'd be risky. SAC NORAD would take notice quick, and fingers would be hovering over baaaaaad buttons.
Re: (Score:2)
Hmm. Well, maybe not so dumb that there's no guarantee they wouldn't, but they probably wouldn't.
Re: Not very useful (Score:3)
Sounds like BS to me (Score:2)
The Alpha-Radiation from Plutonium is already undetectable on the other side of a piece of paper. And, incidentally, Plutonium based nuclear weapons are lighter than Uranium based ones. Such a coincidence. Sounds to me like this person is full of crap.
Re: (Score:2)
The Alpha-Radiation from Plutonium is already undetectable on the other side of a piece of paper. And, incidentally, Plutonium based nuclear weapons are lighter than Uranium based ones. Such a coincidence. Sounds to me like this person is full of crap.
Plutonium-based nuclear weapons usually contain uranium, too, as a tamper to aid in the original implosion, and/or as additional fissile material to boost yield. Here's a cross section of a US W87 warhead [google.com]. Soviet designs weren't too different, because of espionage and physics.
I couldn't quickly find any sources that specifically discuss proton-induced neutron spallation in plutonium, but it is reasonable to expect that the effect would happen in fissile plutonium just like fissile uranium. Spallation
Re: (Score:2)
Well, yes. But I would expect designs to get tweaked to avoid this type of detector. Longer viability in space requires a redesign of major components anyways.
Re: (Score:2)
But I would expect designs to get tweaked to avoid this type of detector.
The detector works by looking for neutron spallation off the fissile material. You can't tweak the design to get rid of the fissile material. So to avoid detection you either need to 1) prevent the Van Allen or cosmic ray protons from getting in and causing the spallation, or 2) prevent the neutrons from getting out. Both involve a fair bit of shielding, which may simply be impractical.
Re: (Score:1)
The proposed technique may detect existing weapons, but how feasible is it to make an undetectable formula?
Re: (Score:2)
The proposed technique may detect existing weapons, but how feasible is it to make an undetectable formula?
I'll quote myself from a different comment:
Re: (Score:2)
The Alpha-Radiation from Plutonium is already undetectable on the other side of a piece of paper. And, incidentally, Plutonium based nuclear weapons are lighter than Uranium based ones. Such a coincidence. Sounds to me like this person is full of crap.
This is one of those cases where things are not as simple as they seem. For one, plutonium does not directly decay to stable lead. You will never have a pure plutonium core for very long, so daughters are going to be present, some of which decay via gamma emission, and we know the ratios they will show up in over time. For another, when plutonium decays, the resulting daughter doesn't always end up in a ground state right away, but lands at an excited state, which then drops to ground, emitting a gamma wh
some aliens on a drive-by (Score:2)
*Thud*
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I think we hit something"
"Get out"
"I'm serious"
"Me too-I meant, get out and check"
"You're asking me--"
" -- to suit up, and get out there, and check"
I'll take ho
I love it how (Score:2)
nuclear bombs in space. detectors. Basic radiation theory. small satellites. I see nothing new here that wasn't thought about at least 50 years ago, perhaps with the exception of using a cubesat. Detecting possible nukes from a satelite? No possible chance that any modern governments quietl
Re: (Score:2)
Don't judge a book by it's cover. The "top" journals have always been mostly hype. Even more so now that they can charge $13,000 to publish an article in them.
Sniff out in a Lead-Lined box? (Score:2)
There is a theoritical way to destroy (Score:2)
a nuclear warhead remotely using neutrinos.
https://ir.soken.ac.jp/record/6304/files/19_w_p.pdf
The problem is, you need a neutrino source which is over 1000km in diameter.
Something that large is bound to be detected by an adversary, and they will attempt to destroy it.
Maybe build it on the moon?