Did nasa accidentally “nuke� jupiter?

[VXR 9]

This link is what i found on a news site

check it out

http://www.enterprisemission.com/NukingJupiter.html

a new sun maybe?

[bn880 5]

Did you want to summarize that? There is no way that the spacecraft caused a Nuclear reaction... if that's what these ppl are getting at.

EDIT: The scale of the phenomenon is so far out of proportion to anything a space probe could trigger...

[Placebo 29]

Please make a proper post out of this, not simply posting a link, if not the thread will be closed.

[kegetys 2]

Interesting theory, I saw those pics of the jupiter spots some time ago.

The Galileo did carry _alot_ of plutonium if I remember correctly, but I dont still think it could have caused anything that big...

[bn880 5]

Not only is the scale of such a blast out of proportion ot this spot, but also that material is not going to just all of a sudden decide to have a nuclear reaction because it enters jupiter.

If they did anything silly then they would have to try hard to pull it off.

[walker 0]

Hi all

The argument in the site is well written.

I think the continuous implosive ability of an atmosphere is better than the milisecond squeeze of a normal explosive nuclear trigger. Making even a crude device more explosive than a normall high grade nuclear bomb.

You might even get a reactor type event where you got a slow cooking of the plutonium at a sub explosive level possibly for days. Such a point heat source might cause convection of lower level gases up to the suface. I think it would be worth doing the math on the potential energy yeild of such a sub explosive device

I would like more proof the black spot exists though before considering this as a possible source of such a phenominon.

Kind Regards Walker

[Wilco 944]

Cool  

Too bad we can't populate certain spots of Jupiter if we ever do.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

It's actually a fairly interesting article; normally I don't hold with boring stuff like astronomy, but I actually managed to make it all the way down to where he started giving formulas and using big words. After that he kind of lost me, but I can vouch for everything up to that point being extremely fascinating.

[kegetys 2]

here is an older article "warning" about the possibility of such event...

also, here is the article from space.com about the jupiter spots. It seems the second spot image was one of the jupiter's moons, Ganymede, but the first spot is still without explanation.

[drewb99 0]

It's the crucial first strike against the Jovians

[Stag 0]

It's a bunch of black obelisks reproducing in a geometric progression.

[bn880 5]

Yeah I suppose it is afterall possible if a detonation acted as a trigger with already present materials in Jupiter. Otherwise the scale is out of whack.

[The Frenchman 0]

It's the crucial first strike against the Jovians  

Dont laugh. My mum is sad now that she thinks that millions of people died because of this.

[walker 0]

It's the crucial first strike against the Jovians  

Dont laugh. My mum is sad now that she thinks that millions of people died because of this.

Sorry I laughed

[Blink Dog 0]

Just because there was Plutonium on the craft does not mean it is possible to make it explode like "Fat man" did. The pressure discussed would not work as the pressure would be unevenly distributed across the spherical body of the Plutonium. The Fat Man design is the hardest to get to work properly because you need to explode the plates surrounding the sphere Simultanious. If it were mistimed the effect would not be as specatacular and result in a dirty bomb. What was seen was prob one of those big ass storms with winds around 500 mph that jupiter gets once every day.

[theavonlady 2]

Thank heavens women are from Venus!

[TopCover 0]

For what it matters; The name Richard Hoagland rang some bells for me. Goolgled him and voila! Turns out he is the same guy who started the whole face on Mars hype. Not sure if that speaks for or against his credibilty though.

[denoir 0]

Interesting and nicely written, but not very credible. The difficulty of building a nuke is in the very complex set of explosive lenses that make sure that an exact density, mass and shape is made out of the fissile material. It has to be very exact. Too little and you get no reaction, too quick and it goes supercritical - i.e you get a quick burst of gamma radiation but no chain reaction.

Considering that Galileo was falling into Jupiter with a certain velocity and that the pressure of the gases on Jupiter are proportional to the distance to the center, I think it would be fairly impossible to even get equal pressure on all sides of the spacecraft (which is required to create a sphere).

Furthermore, Jupiter is a big-ass planet. Even if you detonated a nuke, I doubt very much that there would be any significant visible signs. I mean, that black spot is somehing like the size of earth...

[Acecombat 0]

What did you guys think of the stupid Lucifer thingy in the end ...

Whats that conspiracy theory all aboutearth getting sunshine 24/7

[walker 0]

I think it would be fairly impossible to even get equal pressure on all sides of the spacecraft (which is required to create a sphere).

The Author makes it clear the ship is burnt up and you are left with the individual spherical pellets. Not sure if their mass is enough though sounds small to me but then in the normal Nuke only a small part of the total mass is used.

Furthermore, Jupiter is a big-ass planet. Even if you detonated a nuke, I doubt very much that there would be any significant visible signs. I mean, that black spot is somehing like the size of earth...

Much bigger than earth I would say but he is not saying its the explosion he is saying its a soot from such an explosion convecting to the gas surface.

Kind Regards Walker

[bn880 5]

Well I would think the pressure would be even enough to cause a reaction, when using explosives it is extremely important to have very good precision because what comes right after the blast is 1ATM(outside, there is room for the material to relax). Inside Jupiter what you have is constant pressure all around, and the difference in pressure from one point to the other on the material would be extremely insignificant looking at the size of the planet...

What I'm trying to say is the reaction could be started if enough material made it into the "core" where there is an extreme pressure. However I doubt that is what happened very much.

[denoir 0]

I think it would be fairly impossible to even get equal pressure on all sides of the spacecraft (which is required to create a sphere).

The Author makes it clear the ship is burnt up and you are left with the individual spherical pellets. Not sure if their mass is enough though sounds small to me but then in the normal Nuke only a small part of the total mass is used.

That makes it even more unlikely that anything would happen. The ship is desintegrated and the pellets magically position themselves so that they form a perfect sphere? Not bloody likely.

Quote[/b] ]  Inside Jupiter what you have is constant pressure all around, and the difference in pressure from one point to the other on the material would be extremely insignificant looking at the size of the planet...

What I'm trying to say is the reaction could be started if enough material made it into the "core" where there is an extreme pressure.

You're forgetting that the material is falling towars the core. It's not floating around in mid-air so to say. It's affected by the gravity of Jupiter which pulls the pellets towards the center of the planet and not to the center of some sphere in mid-air. Which rules out any possibility of a constant pressure relative the center of the required sphere. Furthermore the pellets would have to be perfectly positioned in a spherical configuration. And considering that it was in a spacecraft that burned up, it would violate the second law of thermodynamics stating that when you have an exothermic reaction entropy can only increase or stay the same.

And that makes it fall into the "impossible" category and not the "bloody unlikely" one.

[Acecombat 0]

Why has it got to be in a 'perfect' spherical form? Cant a simple normal shape trigger it too? Since there would be loadsof pressure its possible or likely that 'once' it might get in to a spherical shape during the whole process ..??

[denoir 0]

It must be spherical to remain critical i.e to maintain the chain reaction since the material is in free form. Any other shape or form will be subcritical or require more mass. It has to do with the spatial properties of high energy radiation (EM waves propagate in radial direction). Also, to channel the energy into an explosion it needs to be spherical.

And the possibility of the form is not a question of probability, but a question of entropy. The second law of thermodynamics rules out that a exothermic reaction could lead to a more ordered structure (i.e the entropy can only increase). Furthermore, it's a one-shot situation. If the pellets approach close enough in any other form or shape, the system will go supercritical and you'll 'use up' the radioactive material.

[edc 0]

Interesting (and long) read, but it sounds a little far fetched. The thing about the potential underground oceans on Europa, could be interesting though. And personally, even if NASA did "nuke Jupiter"(as extremely unlikely as it may be), who really cares? I mean, its not like its hurting anything. The radiation from the sun, is far greater than something like that could ever cause.