Page 1 of 1

Project Orion

PostPosted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:46 pm
by pauldear
Currently watching a documentary on Project Orion - Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970....

People knew how to dream back then. What went wrong? Today, we have less capability for spaceflight (certainly manned exploration) than we had in the 1960s. And our dreams are so, so small: maybe in ten, twenty, thirty years, just maybe, we might perhaps go to Mars, if only it weren't so expensive, if only it weren't so dangerous, if only it weren't so environmentally unfriendly, if only, if only, if only.

Why did we lose this? Why did we regress? What happened to our balls? How did we manage to betray ourselves so spectacularly?

Re: Project Orion

PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 4:02 pm
by rick m
NASA said I was too tall...changed major to "Earth Science" (-;

NASA should sell lottery tickets or let people select where they want 50% of their income taxes to go, government can waste the rest.

Rick

Re: Project Orion

PostPosted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:33 pm
by wildspace
Some very big names in nuclear physics were players in this but they tryed to push it as a defence project, a ultimate m.a.d. . But the fallout even from earth orbit was a serious drawback being trapped in a radiation belt and spiraling down all over the earth. still the most powerful drive we could make now with no innovation.

Re: Project Orion

PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:42 pm
by pauldear
As I understand it, it was conceived first for space exploration, and later given a military twist. Freeman Dyson (I think) estimated that each launch would cause between 0.1 and 1 (or maybe it was 1 to 10) deaths from cancer. But I suspect that, today, much lower fallout could be acheived.