# Could they have dropped a nuclear bomb on the moon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083 "2009-08-02T19:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/21 "2009-08-02T23:04:43Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Since the dawn of time man has yearned to destroy the moon. True. It is every little boy’s dream. It just taunts us night after night and sometimes even during the day. The sight of it makes me want to puke. Cecil himself even wrote a column about blowing it up. > **[I plan to destroy the moon. What effect would this have on the earth?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343496/i-plan-to-destroy-the-moon-what-effect-would-this-have-on-the-earth)** ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/22 "2009-08-02T23:11:02Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > ! > > How do you detect microrganisms with a nuclear bomb? You listen to the Force to see if millions of voices suddenly cry out in terror and are suddenly silenced? Extremely simplistic answer. You vaporize a bunch of lunar stuff. You analyze the spectrum of light of all this glowing stuff. See signs of complex organics? Might be signs of life… ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/23 "2009-08-02T23:17:43Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Extremely simplistic answer. You vaporize a bunch of lunar stuff. You analyze the spectrum of light of all this glowing stuff. See signs of complex organics? Might be signs of life… [Deep Impact](http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/deepimpact/index.cfm), but on the moon, with nukes. ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/24 "2009-08-02T23:20:19Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > During the Cold War, the Pentagon really, really wanted to do this as a stunt. The US was fully capable of doing this, but since a) it serves absolutely no military purpose and b) it would forever contaminate the Moon, scientists were able to persuade the administration not to proceed. Forever contaminate the Moon? Huh?? Nukes here at home don’t forever contaminate the _Earth_. Sure, it’s probably unpleasantly warm in some spots of Nevada even to this day, but that’s a small, small plot of real estate, relatively speaking. The Moon is pretty big, bigger than Nevade, if you hadn’t noticed. Also, and this is just a guess-- if you can survive in an airless, superhot/supercold environment wearing a space suit, you probably scoff at residual nuclear radiation. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/25 "2009-08-03T00:58:24Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > Forever contaminate the Moon? Huh?? > > Nukes here at home don’t forever contaminate the _Earth_. Sure, it’s probably unpleasantly warm in some spots of Nevada even to this day, but that’s a small, small plot of real estate, relatively speaking. The Moon is pretty big, bigger than Nevade, if you hadn’t noticed. > > Also, and this is just a guess-- if you can survive in an airless, superhot/supercold environment wearing a space suit, you probably scoff at residual nuclear radiation. The contamination has nothing do do with people. It has to do with any sensitive scientific experiments which would have their results skewed because of residual radiation - due to a completely pointless showboating display. BTW - steel made before 1945 is considered somewhat valuable, because all current steel is contaminated by radioactive isotopes. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/26 "2009-08-03T01:30:29Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > all current steel is contaminated by radioactive isotopes. To what extent? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/27 "2009-08-03T01:31:36Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I hope they planned on naming the missile “Alice”. I’m whooshed…fill me in. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/28 "2009-08-03T01:46:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m whooshed…fill me in. A reference to “The Honeymooners”. Jackie Gleasons’ character used space travel as a metaphor for wife beating. His wife was named Alice… ETA…Gotta love ‘Futurama’ ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/29 "2009-08-03T01:47:18Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > To what extent? Enough to make it unsuitable for use in sensitive physics experiments. Note the second paragraph: [Operation Deadlight - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deadlight) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/30 "2009-08-03T01:50:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Why would they want to drop a nuke on the Moon? As a warning to Mars. Them little green bastards are always eyeballing our women. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/31 "2009-08-03T01:57:24Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Enough to make it unsuitable for use in sensitive physics experiments. > > Note the second paragraph: [Operation Deadlight - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deadlight) How many sensitive physics experiments are conducted that one hundred submarines would be required? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/32 "2009-08-03T02:13:00Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Why would they want to drop a nuke on the Moon? Just hanging up there, waving its ass at us… It needs to be taught a lesson. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/33 "2009-08-03T03:11:46Z")
Would a nuclear blast on the Moon’s surface still form a mushroom cloud, or is that only in Earth’s atmosphere? Would it be more spherical? And what about a nuclear detonation, say, five miles above the lunar surface? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/34 "2009-08-03T03:20:55Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Would a nuclear blast on the Moon’s surface still form a mushroom cloud, or is that only in Earth’s atmosphere? Would it be more spherical? There is a lot of dust, less gravity, no atmosphere. I’d say more of a plume than a mushroom cloud, with material perhaps escaping to space. This is a job for Chronos. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RogueAOV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@RogueAOV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueAOV)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/35 "2009-08-03T03:37:10Z")
It was not quite the moon…but [Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/36 "2009-08-03T03:54:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I should think so. 960 kilgorams would be an big nuclear device. That’s more than twice the mass of the W-87 weapon used on Minuteman III missiles. > > I for one fully support the detonation of the largest nuclear weapon possible on the Moon, for the reason that it would be really freaking awesome. I suspect that it would be barely visible with the unaided eye. Think about it - the moon is 2,000 miles across. Even the largest device made is going to have tiny fireball in the vacuum of the Moon’s surface. Say the fireball is (generously) 10 miles in diameter. That’s 1/200 of the diameter of the moon, which is only the size of a dime held at arms length. So, the explosion would probably look like a tiny “spark” (like a camera flash at a stadium). If you blinked when it happened, you’d miss it. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/37 "2009-08-03T04:30:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I suspect that it would be barely visible with the unaided eye. A 10 inch telescope is sufficient to videotape a meteor hitting the moon with the energy equivalent of 4 tons of TNT: [here](http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/13jun_lunarsporadic.htm). With a brightness of magnitude 7, the event wasn’t much below visibility with the mark I eyeball. A nuke, with energy release in the hundreds of kilotons range would likely be naked eye visible if it occured on the uniluminated limb of the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/38 "2009-08-03T05:04:03Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > Could it have been a manned mission (dropped from moon orbit) or would it have been unmanned for cargo capabilities reasons? Though weight considerations could be taken into account, the risk of a lunar lander crashing or otherwise failing would be too large. That is, if NASA would go through all the trouble of getting a nuclear device to the moon, they would not take a chance on using an absurdly complicated descent stage to set off a ground-level explosion. Can you imagine the publicity (cold war or otherwise) of a nuclear dud? Surely they’d nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/39 "2009-08-03T05:04:58Z")
Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083/40 "2009-08-03T05:45:34Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > How many sensitive physics experiments are conducted that one hundred submarines would be required? 🙂 At the risk of missing a whoosh, the pre 1945 steel is still used in more mundane structural supports for low level radiation detectors, such as whole body monitors and very low level waste monitors. The emission spectra of some of the products found in the contaminated steel are annoyingly close to some of the emission spectra of some of the contaminants you might ingest/breath in if you work in a nuclear power plant or on low level waste. That and the raised background level across the spectrum due to compton scatter lowers the limit of detection for the devices, so you end up having to monitor things/people for longer, which is already tedious enough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-they-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-moon/505083.md?page=3)