Project Orion: "To Mars by A-Bomb" RARE Footage

Project Orion was the first engineering design study of a spacecraft powered by nuclear pulse propulsion, an idea proposed first by Stanisław Ulam during 1947. The project, initiated in 1958, envisioned the explosion of atomic bombs behind the craft and was led by Ted Taylor at General Atomics and physicist Freeman Dyson, who at Taylor's request took a year away from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to work on the project.

By using energetic nuclear power, the Orion concept offered high thrust and high specific impulse (10 to 1,000 km/s[1]) at the same time; the optimum combination for spacecraft propulsion. As a qualitative comparison, traditional chemical rockets (the Moon-class Saturn V or the Space Shuttle being prime examples) provide (rather) high thrust, but low specific impulse, whereas ion engines do the opposite. Orion would have offered performance greater than the most advanced conventional or nuclear rocket engines now being studied. Cheap interplanetary travel was the goal of the Orion Project. Its supporters felt that it had potential for space travel, but it lost political approval over concerns with fallout from its propulsion.

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• orion
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• mars
• supressed
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• 2012

[Hugh345678]

@nosorab3 but like i said it defeats the perpose if you cannot get the stuff up there in the first place, the only system i think could feasably get a orion drive into orbit in less time then a decade would probably be a loftrom loop but if we had one of thoughs we wouldnt need a orion drive...

[nosorab3]

@Hugh345678

Not necessarily, this kind of propulsion is probably the largest kind of ship you're going to get anywhere fast while still keeping things affordable. Between MPD thruster and this, I'd go with this for simple stuff like bulk transport.

[Hugh345678]

@BatusaiJack the whole point of the system was and is to put thousands of tons into orbit, lifting it up on a space elevater, it kind of defeats the purpose.

[superotherguy1]

(They should have gone to Russia)

[BatusaiJack]

nuclear explosion rocket -- better to load it on a space elevator and then power it up in space

[GrayFox2k8]

one day, this will be reality!

[v0idation]

Why is Arthur C. Clarke dressed like Blofeld?

[Overclocker49]

aroura

[triggerguy1]

Thanks for posting this.