Solution to puzzle 3
Dr. Evil
Dr. Evil realized that with a single 10 kt bomb exploded at 125-300 km altitude he can destroy > 90% of commercial and 40% of military satellites in the low orbit in a matter of weeks. Replacing all of these satellites would require several hundred billion dollars and many years. The idea is to pump MeV range electrons generated from beta decay of fission products into Van Allen radiation belts. The inner belt will remain saturated with the MeV particles for 0.5-2 years, delaying the launch of new satellites. Meanwhile, all communications will be disrupted. A SCUD class missile would be sufficient for Dr. Evil's ends. US-DTRA puts this scenario at the top of their nuclear threats. The only mitigation is hardening the electronics on the satellites, but it is too late for the ones that are already there. This hardening is not a trivial task either. Another idea of Dr. Good is to emit very low frequency waves to push the particles towards the magnetic field lines so these particles will precipitate into the upper atmosphere faster. This will shorten the period when no satellites can be relaunched. See more on
http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/yspace/articles/nuclear_explosions.htm
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/asat/haleos.pdf
arbat was the closest to the correct answer (using EMP to take down the computers). This works best at 30-50 km above the ground, and the effect is too local. The EMP of high-altitude explosions will destroy less than 10% of the satellites in the low orbit; the main damage is not EMP but pumping the MeV electrons into the belts. It will probably destroy amplifiers on very long transoceanic cables. That happened in 1962 when the US detonated 1.4 Mt bomb 400 km above Johnson Island (operation Starfish Prime). The belts cleared only in the early 1970. There were few nonmilitary satellites in the low orbit back then, but seven of them were destroyed in 7 months. vdinets suggested a devilish plan of such daring that even Dr. Evil is hesitant to implement it. Thank you all.
PS: How about Puzzle 4? For all the ardor that goes into ridiculing the intelligent design one would think that disproving that teapots have evolved by themselves would be child's play...
Dr. Evil realized that with a single 10 kt bomb exploded at 125-300 km altitude he can destroy > 90% of commercial and 40% of military satellites in the low orbit in a matter of weeks. Replacing all of these satellites would require several hundred billion dollars and many years. The idea is to pump MeV range electrons generated from beta decay of fission products into Van Allen radiation belts. The inner belt will remain saturated with the MeV particles for 0.5-2 years, delaying the launch of new satellites. Meanwhile, all communications will be disrupted. A SCUD class missile would be sufficient for Dr. Evil's ends. US-DTRA puts this scenario at the top of their nuclear threats. The only mitigation is hardening the electronics on the satellites, but it is too late for the ones that are already there. This hardening is not a trivial task either. Another idea of Dr. Good is to emit very low frequency waves to push the particles towards the magnetic field lines so these particles will precipitate into the upper atmosphere faster. This will shorten the period when no satellites can be relaunched. See more on
http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/yspace/articles/nuclear_explosions.htm
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/asat/haleos.pdf
arbat was the closest to the correct answer (using EMP to take down the computers). This works best at 30-50 km above the ground, and the effect is too local. The EMP of high-altitude explosions will destroy less than 10% of the satellites in the low orbit; the main damage is not EMP but pumping the MeV electrons into the belts. It will probably destroy amplifiers on very long transoceanic cables. That happened in 1962 when the US detonated 1.4 Mt bomb 400 km above Johnson Island (operation Starfish Prime). The belts cleared only in the early 1970. There were few nonmilitary satellites in the low orbit back then, but seven of them were destroyed in 7 months. vdinets suggested a devilish plan of such daring that even Dr. Evil is hesitant to implement it. Thank you all.
PS: How about Puzzle 4? For all the ardor that goes into ridiculing the intelligent design one would think that disproving that teapots have evolved by themselves would be child's play...