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| During the [[Battle of Installation 05]], and the subsequent quarantine of the Installation and [[High Charity]], [[Cortana]] requested that UNSC [[UNSC High Command|HIGHCOM]] deploy a NOVA bomb around [[Installation 05]], to stop the outbreak of the [[Flood]], and ''High Charity'', in order to destroy the Covenant holy capital.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 183''</ref> However, it is apparent that this request was not granted, as High Charity was not bombed and later landed on [[Installation 00]]. | | During the [[Battle of Installation 05]], and the subsequent quarantine of the Installation and [[High Charity]], [[Cortana]] requested that UNSC [[UNSC High Command|HIGHCOM]] deploy a NOVA bomb around [[Installation 05]], to stop the outbreak of the [[Flood]], and ''High Charity'', in order to destroy the Covenant holy capital.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 183''</ref> However, it is apparent that this request was not granted, as High Charity was not bombed and later landed on [[Installation 00]]. |
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| == Theory ==
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| The NOVA bomb's explosive power is quickly depleted due to the lack of particles or atmosphere around it if detonated in space. This results in a much quicker release of energy (in the form of radiation and electromagnetic pulse) over a much wider area, with the possibility of even further multiplying its damage to ships, planets, moons, and other celestial objects which are not adequately shielded from these effects. However if detonated inside a planet's atmosphere, a portion of the total energy generated would be dispersed throughout the atmosphere in the form of a shock wave. The density as well as composition of the atmosphere are the largest contributing factors when determining how much energy is dispersed. Even though the EXACT power of the NOVA Bomb is not mentioned in the book, a low end can be calculated:
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| {{Conjecture}}
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| Assumptions: the moon is 2km, and the NOVA bomb is only 5,000 km away, in low orbit.
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| Calc: Apply the Inverse Squared Law: Source Energy / (4 * Pi * R<sup>2</sup>) the radius is the distance from the source to the range.
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| x/ (4 * 3.14195... * 5,000<sup>2</sup>) = 4 Megatons per square kilometer to fragment a 2km moon which requires 8 Megatons to be fragmented.
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| x = 1.2 Petatons - equivalent to 1.2 billion megatons
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| Some may find this yield hard to believe for a fusion device, even one as large as the NOVA, but the stated effects to the planet and nearby moon require explosive power of this magnitude. Whitcomb does mention, however, that the lithium triteride cases are compressed to "neutron star density" during the detonation, implying that the warheads themselves boost a second, much larger fusion reaction.
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| In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, the detonation of the NOVA bomb was noted to have caused "300-kilometer-per-hour winds" to sweep over Joyous Exaultation. Using data from nuclear testing calculated for ideal shock fronts, if Joyous Exaultation had atmospheric pressures and elemental composition similar to that of Earth (highly likely, as it was a Covenant colony planet, with the majority of Covenant species breathing Earth-like atmospheres), a 300 kph wind velocity corresponds to a peak overpressure of 6 psi (31.4 kpa) and a peak dynamic pressure of 0.85 psi (5.9 kpa)
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| For comparative purposes, using the formula of yield equivalence for nuclear weapons, EMt = n * Y ^ (2/3), where "EMt" is the equivalent yield, "n" is the number of warheads, and "Y" is the actual yield of each individual weapon in megatons, the NOVA bomb has a yield equivalence of:
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| "Little Boy" -first atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, Japan; Yield = ~15 kilotons
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| (1,200,000,000 Mt ^ (2/3)) / (.015 Mt ^ (2/3)) = 18,566,355
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| 18,566,355 Hiroshima-style fission bombs
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| or
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| "Tsar Bomba" - largest nuclear weapon ever tested; Yield = ~50 megatons
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| (1,200,000,000 Mt ^ (2/3)) / (50 Mt ^ (2/3)) = 83,203
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| 83,203 Tsar Bomba thermonuclear bombs.
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| Fireball radius = ~4204km
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| Blast radius = ~60000km
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| {{Conjecture end}}
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| == Trivia == | | == Trivia == |
