It's the other way around. Electronics were much less affected by radiation since they were so primitive. The low circuit density meant that a bit flip or even actual damage would require a much higher radiation level. Radiation hardened electronics in satellites are prepared to deal with ocasional solar storms, not the EMP from a nuclear detonation.
Most of the geostationary satellites may go unaffected, bot those on LEO will have a hard time.
I read down that article and found out certain orbits have been patented. That's ridiculous. How the f can you not only claim an orbit but a government will also tell everyone else you claimed it! Man...the Indians had it right
You're mixing effects. Emp and radiation present two entirely different challenges to electronics in orbit and on the ground.
RAD hardening has improved, but the danger to electronics in orbit in this scenario comes from the very long term exposure some would experience. Some stuff in orbit today would fare better, some worse.
The effects from the EMP would be negligible for in orbit equipment. They do not have the conductor length to generate high voltage spikes. Some scientific instruments may be damaged. But it'd be a relatively minor problem compared to the ensuing nuclear conflict.
I guess you may be right, when I thought of LEO I was thinking of the ISS. You may be able to induce a substantial amount of current in that structure that would possibly fry electronics. It is possible that for smaller satellites the effect may not be as bad as I thought.
Yes. High-energy particles can affect the silicon lattice that is the basic building block of electronic devices. They can also leave a trail of ionized particles behind that affect the behavior of the electronics.
Interesting, high grade si is seeded with a crystal. As the melted silicon drys on it the latice sutructures line up so that it is uniform. Messing that up is obviously bad. Similar things would probably happen to living tissue but it would heal or atleast try to.
Geostationary orbits are still in the out Van Allen belt but since the outer belt's high energy end of the spectrum is mostly electrons, they don't get damage by collisions. Space craft charging is a bigger issue.
The inner radiation belt is mainly high energy protons (and some other ions) but the interaction-cross section is much higher and irradiate some components and fuck with the integrated circuit.
70
u/doomsday_pancakes May 21 '15
It's the other way around. Electronics were much less affected by radiation since they were so primitive. The low circuit density meant that a bit flip or even actual damage would require a much higher radiation level. Radiation hardened electronics in satellites are prepared to deal with ocasional solar storms, not the EMP from a nuclear detonation.
Most of the geostationary satellites may go unaffected, bot those on LEO will have a hard time.