What Happens if a Nuclear Weapon Goes Off in Space?

The U.S. Department of Defense has sounded the alarm on a worrying
hypothetical program from Russia aimed at putting a nuclear weapon
into orbit. Associate news editor Allison Parshall explains what we
know about nukes in space from a satellite accident and a series of
ill-advised low-orbit tests during the cold war. E-mail us at
sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or
ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every
day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in
Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by
Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Carin Leong, Madison
Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel
Feltman with guest Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Elah
Feder, Alexa Lim, Madison Goldberg and Anaissa Ruiz Tejada, with
fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music
was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices.
Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices