There are problems with nuclear weapons carried over to testing and deployment scenarios , however . Because of the very large radius associated with nuclear events , it was nearly impossible to prevent indiscriminate damage to other satellites , including one 's own satellites . '' Starfish Prime '' produced an artificial radiation belt in space that soon destroyed three satellites ( Ariel , TRAAC , and Transit 4B all failed after traversing the radiation belt , while Cosmos V , Injun I and Telstar 1 suffered minor degradation , due to some radiation damage to solar cells , etc. ) . The radiation dose rate was at least 0.6 Gy/day at four months after '' Starfish '' for a well-shielded satellite or manned capsule in a polar circular earth orbit , which caused NASA concern with regard to its manned space exploration programs
Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime
High-altitude nuclear explosion