"Nuclear Weapons in Space" Topic

"There is no power, no symbol like the nuclear explosion, that iconic mushroom cloud, the fear of the end of the world as we know. It then seems logical, that the ultimate power here on Earth would easily translate into the ultimate power in outer space warfare. Right?

Since 1945, the general public as been keenly aware of the effect of nuclear weapons within the atmosphere of our planet, but once you take away the atmosphere, the true awesome power of the bomb is taking away. The issue is that 50% of a nuclear weapon's power is from the concussive force (the blast wave), which would not exist in the vacuum of space. 35% is heat, and rest (15%) is the series of nuclear radiation. Atmosphere is the conductor of the destructive power of a nuke, and once you take away that, you are left with a WMD that is only effective (to some degree) within one kilometer of the target. That is damn close in space combat, like living in the underwear of the person you're trying to kill. Not mention, that a nuclear device has to survive through the enemy warship's AAA defenses and any 'space fighters' forming a screen of outgoing fire.

If and when a nuclear weapon at its mark, it would appear in space like a bright flash, no mushroom cloud, or wave of hellfire, just extremely bright light, a dense shower of gamma rays, beta particles, and neutrons…"
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Armand

True enough. Hence why the contact blast of a < 10 kiloton warhead on the NuBSG had limited effect. They went for real science there.

The effect was noted when one of the test detonations in I think either Trinity or Operation Plumb Bob had two massive steel balls placed against the casing of the weapon; The one touching the casing was found two miles in one direction, nearly unscathed, while the other, which had by accident a two-inch air gap between it and the device, lost 45% or something of its mass by vaporization, three miles away in the other direction.

One of the things I liked about the 1972 movie "Silent Running" was the nuke explosion did not look like it was in atmosphere like entirely too many movies do (Star Wars any one?)

I think when you need electricity to do things like help you breath, not to mention run the tracking equipment, weapons, etc, that the EMP effects might be more significant.