[Pax]

Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
Heh... actually, in space where there isn't as much material to transmit a shockwave it's not that inconceivable to survive a nuclear weapon as long as it's not a 'direct' hit -- detonation in actual contact with the ship.

Mass to transmit the shockwave is pure gravy. Most of the energy put out by an atomic device isn't directly kinetic in nature anyway ... radiant energy of various types. Also remember, the mass of the bomb itself will impact your craft at very high speeds. A near-miss in space will still push you around (hence hte Orion you mention below ). Potentially quite violently ...

Lackof proximity mainly produces a more-diffuse / less-intense dose of the radiant energies of the bLast. Otherwise, touching or 100m or 1km or whatever away, a bLast is a bLast.

Some randomness in damage would be VERY nice especially here, to reflect proximity of detonation; it's not like you can "shaped charge" effect a nuclear bLast, after all ...

And remember, scale is everything. What's the size of the warhead? Isn't it easier to load lots of small warheads (a few hundred kilotons?) on smaller missiles than to put the very biggest bomb you can make (50 megatons? 100 megatons?) on larger missiles? It's the usual trade-off: Smaller warheads are much more survivable individually but easier to get a hit with because you can launch more. Larger warheads might wipe out the target completely but with fewer of them available they can be more easily countered various measures.

With a lithium-hydride packed Hydrogen Bomb (of sufficient mass and size), the limit is much closer to a gigaton than a mere 100 megaton bLast. IIRC, the USA and/or USSR have test-detonated Hydrogen Bombs of up to 300 or 400 megatons ... as non-recently as 30 years ago, at the height of the cold war.

There was a project in the late 1950s to build a space ship powered by nuclear bombs. Yes, bombs would be dropped out the back and a 'pusher plate' on the underside of the craft with enormous shock absorbers would take the bLast. It was called the Orion Project. Do a Google search for it and you'll find plenty of resources. It's had some recent attemtion due to the son of Freeman Dyson (who was a major contributor) writing a book about it.

Ah yes, the Orion ... one of my Favorites. The novel Footfall includes the actual (in the story ofc) construction, launch, and use of such a craft. Unfortunately, I'm suffering brainlock on the writer's name ATM ...

When piloting an Orion-drive space-craft launching from a planetary surface, just remember: if the first bomb is a dud, that's not a problem. If the SECOND bomb is a dud ... you have a definite problem. Mainly owing to the fact that the first one throws you a mile or so up, and if the second fails ... you fall. Heh.