Would Nuking the Moon Be a Crime?

So say a group of people decided to nuke the moon. It would probably take 9,000-15-megaton nuclear bombs in order to completely destroy the surface but if they were to accomplish this, would they get arrested?

We’d be too busy being at the mercy of, like, world ending cataclysmic events.

Edit: I missed “surface” and thought you meant the whole moon being destroyed god I’m dumb. Wouldn’t this be a terroristic threat?

Yes, it'd be a crime, but what would they be charged with? I mean, the answer is probably obvious, but there's more to it.

Probably, though I don't actually know what law says you can't nuke the moon.

I would assume that a private party possessing nuclear weapons, especially in such an absurd quantity, in itself would be some sort of crime. On top of that I'm pretty sure the use of nuclear weapons, whether they land in your own territory or another planet, is still illegal. The problem is more with using them at all rather than with the destruction they cause.

I see no laws that that would be breaking

That "group of people" would have to be a government, and no I dont think there's any such international law.

Feel free to go nuke the Moon if you really want to.

Don’t nuke the moon, bro.

I've always wanted to find a way to push the moon into Earth.

What country/Organisation would have the right to trial the perpetrator anyway?

Sounds cool

@the_kidd: The U.N. pretty much handles nuke business anyway

To destroy the moon, you would need to provide at least 1.24×10291.24×1029J of energy to exceed the Moon's gravitational binding energy. (This provides a lower bound on the energy to "blow up" the moon.) A megaton of TNT releases 4.184 PJ of energy.Put this together, and you would need at least: 2.96×10132.96×1013 megatons of TNT.Said another way: you would need some 30 trillion million tons of TNT(which in itself is a crime cause of massive explosives).If you would like to perform this calculation yourself, see the Planetary Parameter Calculator. Based on a couple inputs, it will calculate the gravitational binding energy of a body.For a sense of scale: 30 quadrillion tons of TNT = a 470 km sphere. That's large enough to be its own dwarf planet. Or you could use 6 trillion thermonuclear bombs (in the entirety of the Cold War, 60000 nukes of any size were produced, getting you at most 1/100000000th of the way there). For the most efficient option, you could use 10^12 kg of antimatter = a 10 km sphere. so, im gonna have to say yes on it being a crime cause not only would it be on a danger on a global scale, but allso the danger of having way to much nukes.

No.

I guess the actual crime would be stealing a nuclear weapon. Setting it off would be a terrorist act as well, even though it wouldn't technically be on Earth, it would stop the ocean tides and mess up the Earth's axis.

@the_kidd: What ever country they fired the nuke out of, and then they would charge them for illegally firing nukes in their air space. The only way I see this being legal is if they made and fired the nukes from neutral waters in the ocean.

I could be wrong, but wouldn’t that affect like a lot of what happenes on Earth (Tides, Asteroid Defense, Telling time in some cases, etc)? Plus I think there are religions that account the moon as important.

I think it should be illegal if not very wrong to do

No. It's not owned by any country.

No, but why would you?

I mean... You can shatter the moon, but gravity is just going to cause it to recollect.

I believe it would be a violation of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 which states...

The substance of the arms control provisions is in Article IV. This article restricts activities in two ways:

First, it contains an undertaking not to place in orbit around the Earth, install on the moon or any other celestial body, or otherwise station in outer space, nuclear or any other weapons of mass destruction.

Second, it limits the use of the moon and other celestial bodies exclusively to peaceful purposes and expressly prohibits their use for establishing military bases, installation, or fortifications; testing weapons of any kind; or conducting military maneuvers. [Source]

Violators would be subject to sanction and reprimand by the signers of the treaty.

In order to cause tides to stop, the Moon's mass would have to somehow disappear.

Yes, it would have drastic consequences; it would even affect or require redefining the definition of a day, month, and year on Earth; the moon is important for life on Earth.

I wonder who would handle those nukes, otherwise its inconsequential as not even that many nukes would cause a visible crater on the moon.

I don’t think this is possible

Why would you want to nuke the moon? lul.

The ? is very big and if we destroy half of it then not good bro

Probably yes. But what the hell is anyone going to do? Those guys have nukes.

Yes most definitely.

Won't this mess up our orbit though?

Disagree. Destroying the moon would be equal to destroying an ocean, a unhabited part of the Rocky Mountains or the Rainforest, it would be a crime punishable with jail. Just try and burn down a forest, even without hurting anyone, and see how the law reacts to that.

There are already international laws that cover oceans and forests.

Show me the international law that says I cant nuke the Moon.

Umm, no, but it sounds pretty stupid.

I'm pretty sure there is a law that says not only that you can't nuke ANYTHING but that you cannot posses nuclear weapons, in fact even trying to build or let alone buy nukes is so illegal that just by trying to prepare to nuke the moon you'd have the law on you faster than a fat guy on a pie.

Belive me, if there is no law against it, as soon as you'd do it, they would create a law, and it wouldn't be a nice one also. I'm pretty sure you'd be considered a hardcore terrorist and end up in Wantanamo or worst.

@alavanka: ?

@hood_black: Most probably yes, due to the Oute Space Treaty but in the end, like mostly anything, it would depend on who would do it and their alleged reasons: Project A199

Individual countries have such laws, but that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about international law, and there's no such law.

Asking for a friend

This:

I believe it would be a violation of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 which states...

The substance of the arms control provisions is in Article IV. This article restricts activities in two ways:

First, it contains an undertaking not to place in orbit around the Earth, install on the moon or any other celestial body, or otherwise station in outer space, nuclear or any other weapons of mass destruction.

Second, it limits the use of the moon and other celestial bodies exclusively to peaceful purposes and expressly prohibits their use for establishing military bases, installation, or fortifications; testing weapons of any kind; or conducting military maneuvers. [Source]

Wouldn't destroying the Moon cause ducking insane Tidal Waves and what not?

No. The moon is a HOLOGRAM in the sky and the Tidal Waves have absolutely no correlation to it.

Yeah. It's terrorism.

This

This is actually a question and people are actually saying it wouldn't be a crime, wYou are knowingly attacking something that ALL life on earth needed to survive with nuclear weapons to top it off. The UN to get her would probably cover it up that they found the people and either locked them behind bars until they die or straight up kill them.

Even minor changes to something like the moon could hurt us now or years from now. Anyone dumb yet resourceful enough to damage it throws most of their rights as a human out the window imo

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty

FYI: Project A119

The signing of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 and the Outer Space Treaty in 1967 prevented future exploration of the concept of detonating a nuclear device on the Moon.

suggestion: do not nuke the moon

Crimes against humanity is a thing, yes.