The altitude indicated above is greater than that of the International Space Station and many low Earth orbit satellites . Large weapons could have a dramatic impact on satellite operations and communications such as occurred during Operation Fishbowl . The damaging effects on orbiting satellites are usually due to factors other than EMP . In the Starfish Prime nuclear test , most damage was to the satellites ' solar panels while passing through radiation belts created by the explosion
Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime
Nuclear electromagnetic pulse