Dr. Graham, chair of the 2008 EMP Commission Report To Congress estimates such a nuke 250 miles over Omaha would cause the death of 90% of the US population in only a few months due to severe limitations on the production and distribution of energy and food.
Yes we could then nuke them IF we knew who did it. Iran has put up 3 such satellites at 250 miles high.
Folks, it is only a matter of time now, it is not a question of if. Better buy an extra can of stew today.
The placement would have to be just right and the explosion done at night as the the sun’s rays on the day side thin out the van allen belts displacing the thickest parts to the night side. The curvature of the Earth also would effect which parts get the strongest effects(the center areas) while the edges would get the weakest. Local anomalies would also cause hit or miss effects. One small yield nuke just won’t do it and the placement would have to be just about perfect and timed with the maximum amount of magnetospheric “support” to get any kind of damage at all. A timed equidistant explosion of 3 or 4 devices simultaneously at just the right places in orbit might cause the feared predicted massive damage but a single device won’t, especially since placement is a variable in terms of predictable results!