Scientists have proposed a space-based sensor system that could be used to detect if satellites are carrying a nuclear weapon.
In 2024, the US warned that Russia could be developing a new satellite designed to carry nuclear weapons into space following a suspicious launch into low-Earth orbit just prior to the attempted invasion of Ukraine.
A nuclear detonation in low-Earth orbit, the region about 100 miles to 1,200 miles above Earth’s surface, would release trillions of highly energetic electrons that would destroy many of the satellites in space, disrupting telecommunications networks, GPS, space-based internet, and more.
In a new paper published in Nature, MIT professor Areg Danagoulian proposes a satellite-based sensor system that could orbit close by a suspect satellite and detect neutrons generated by high-energy protons colliding with radioactive material.
A sensor system the size of a large encyclopedia could detect a nuclear weapon with 99% accuracy if it orbited within 4,000 metres...