Nuclear weapon in orbit

If a nation has the proven capability to build and detonate nuclear bombs how hard is it to make them small enough to put on a rocket?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9738806/North-Korea-rocket-launch-satellite-successfully-sent-into-orbit.html

Once a nuclear bomb is put into orbit how hard is it to drop it from orbit to the mainland USA to detonate?

Pretty hard.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Pretty hard.

I would say the hardest part would be ensuring that it doesn't detonate upon launch failure. Even if only 1 in 100 launches are unsuccessful, you don't want a 1 in 100 chance of blowing yourselves up with a nuclear weapon.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Pretty hard.

How do you know? Do you have some source of information?

Originally posted by twhitehead
I would say the hardest part would be ensuring that it doesn't detonate upon launch failure. Even if only 1 in 100 launches are unsuccessful, you don't want a 1 in 100 chance of blowing yourselves up with a nuclear weapon.

I was thinking the same thing. Just because the DPRK had one successful launch does not indicate that the next one would be successful either, but they might be desperate enough to try given how things are going.

Originally posted by Metal Brain
I was thinking the same thing. Just because the DPRK had one successful launch does not indicate that the next one would be successful either, but they might be desperate enough to try given how things are going.

How are things going? Would they go better if they launched a nuke? I would think that launching a nuke in today's world would be suicide. I certainly don't think that launching a nuke would get anyone to pay them a ransom or remove sanctions or anything else that might be beneficial to them. Even threatening nukes has harmed them. It must be noted that some harm, can be perceived as beneficial to the ruling class - which is why they do the threatening. Zimbabwe went through something similar where the rulers totally destroyed their country just to they could stay in power (and benefit personally for the short term).

Originally posted by twhitehead
How are things going? Would they go better if they launched a nuke? I would think that launching a nuke in today's world would be suicide. I certainly don't think that launching a nuke would get anyone to pay them a ransom or remove sanctions or anything else that might be beneficial to them. Even threatening nukes has harmed them. It must be noted that s ...[text shortened]... ed their country just to they could stay in power (and benefit personally for the short term).

I think the primary reason the DPRK is doing this is to stop the USA/South Korea joint military drills from being done very close to their country. It is not an unreasonable request to ask that they be done further south. The USA didn't like the USSR putting nuclear missiles in Cuba and the response was the USA putting missiles in Turkey.

The USA is downplaying the DPRK's threats and saying they are not capable of delivering a nuclear armed missile to the USA mainland. I think that detonating a nuclear bomb above the USA to show they are capable would be in their best interests. It would not kill anybody and a electro-magnetic pulse would cause enough disruption that it would get the American people's attention.

Maybe then Obama will stop these foolish drills that are so close to the DPRK. So far, too few Americans are questioning Obama for poking North Korea in the eye with a stick. Americans think the DPRK is just being crazy. They don't see that those drills are too close for comfort for the DPRK and that ending them is a simple solution to all of this.

No, I don't think they should detonate a nuclear weapon on land. I do think they have good reason to threaten using them though. Not enough scrutiny is being focused on the policy of of the USA/South Korean joint military drills being done so uncomfortably close to the DPRK. Those drills should be done considerably further south. Until they are, the DPRK has every right to being bellicose.

When the USA put nuclear missiles in Turkey the USSR removed the missiles from Cuba, didn't they? The DPRK has every right to demand the same respect from the USA and asking nicely doesn't work, so that is why we get what is happening.

Originally posted by Metal Brain
I think the primary reason the DPRK is doing this is to stop the USA/South Korea joint military drills from being done very close to their country.

I am sure that they couldn't care less about that. That is just part of the bargaining process in a much more complicated political game.

I think that detonating a nuclear bomb above the USA to show they are capable would be in their best interests.
Lets hope the people in charge are not as naive as you. Such an act would be suicide.

It would not kill anybody and a electro-magnetic pulse would cause enough disruption that it would get the American people's attention.
Maybe then Obama will stop these foolish drills that are so close to the DPRK.
Did 9/11 stop the US from meddling in the middle east?

A nuke over the US would result in war, which the US would no doubt win. If anybody decided to side with North Korea, China for example, it could get ugly. But there is no way that the current North Korean regime would live through whatever happened next.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I am sure that they couldn't care less about that. That is just part of the bargaining process in a much more complicated political game.

[b]I think that detonating a nuclear bomb above the USA to show they are capable would be in their best interests.
Lets hope the people in charge are not as naive as you. Such an act would be suicide.


Did 9/11 stop the US from meddling in the middle east?
[/b]

I'm sure the DPRK is bothered by the military drills very much. They are too close to their country and could easily turn into an invasion on short notice. Any country that distrusts another would be pissed about it. You seem to believe the DPRK is making a fuss about nothing. That is absurd. There is always a reason. To imply otherwise is naive.

Those middle eastern countries didn't have nuclear weapons. If they did the USA would not invade those countries.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I would say the hardest part would be ensuring that it doesn't detonate upon launch failure. Even if only 1 in 100 launches are unsuccessful, you don't want a 1 in 100 chance of blowing yourselves up with a nuclear weapon.

That's not a worry, assuming the mad f***ers aren't using a Hiroshima type bomb then part of the arming sequence involves replacing a solid ball in the centre of the bomb with a hollow sphere containing tritium as an accelerant, until that's happened an implosion is impossible, so nothing will go wrong. Even if there was a fire after that point (or they don't bother with namby pamby safety stuff) accidental detonation of the HE which drives the implosion would tend to be asymmetric so the most likely outcome would be a radiological clean-up. There's been a number of crashes including fires involving nuclear armed aircraft, and nothing ever happened - that anyone's admitting to anyway.

North Korea appears to have a long way to go.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-12/north-koreas-satellite-tumbling-out-control

Originally posted by Metal Brain
North Korea appears to have a long way to go.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-12/north-koreas-satellite-tumbling-out-control

LOL. The idiots!
So they fire a satellite into orbit tumbling wildly totally out of control endangering other satellites!
What a hilarious shameful outrageous display of total incompetence!
LOL

I wonder what excuse they give?
I mean, how would they put a spin on this? (no pun intended)
Perhaps they would say this was a heroic deliberate attack on enemy satellites!?

Originally posted by humy
LOL. The idiots!
So they fire a satellite into orbit tumbling wildly totally out of control endangering other satellites!
What a hilarious shameful outrageous display of total incompetence!
LOL

I wonder what excuse they give?
I mean, how would they put a spin on this? (no pun intended)
Perhaps they would say this was a heroic deliberate attack on enemy satellites!?

There's already so much crap up there it's hardly going to make much of a difference.

Originally posted by humy
What a hilarious shameful outrageous display of total incompetence!

Considering how many US and Russian launches have failed, its really not that bad. Just getting into orbit puts you in the top 10 countries in the world. (just)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_first_orbital_launches_by_country

Originally posted by Metal Brain
North Korea appears to have a long way to go.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-12/north-koreas-satellite-tumbling-out-control

So does America, apparently... according to Korean news programs!

YouTube&feature=share

😀 😀 😀

-m. 😉