Sometimes things I have not been able to remember before come back to me in a flash. That happened just now. I had stood up from my desk to get a book on the Supreme Court, saw another book, The Tao of Physics, and suddenly "Project Orion" flashed in my mind.
Years ago, in the '80's I think, I read a book, not The Tao of Physics, that, as I recall, had just a chapter on nuclear powered spacecraft. I still remember details of it. Atomic detonations were made against a "teflon-like," that was the term that was used, plate at the base of the spacecraft that deflected the explosions away from the spacecraft while also propelling it. The thrust produced by this series of atomic detonations was exponentially in excess of the thrust produced by conventional, chemical means. Atomic propulsion could get the spacecraft to go close to the speed of light, something like 75%, as I recall. It would make interstellar space travel plausible. I remembered that one of the technological concerns of such speed was that if the spacecraft collided with a speck of interstellar dust it would be struck with the force of a nuclear weapon. Which, you could see why that would be a concern. I remembered that the program had to be canceled because of a Cold War era American-Soviet treaty. But I could not for the life of me remember in what book I read this nor what the program was called. Until now. Project Orion. Now back to looking for that book on the court.
Years ago, in the '80's I think, I read a book, not The Tao of Physics, that, as I recall, had just a chapter on nuclear powered spacecraft. I still remember details of it. Atomic detonations were made against a "teflon-like," that was the term that was used, plate at the base of the spacecraft that deflected the explosions away from the spacecraft while also propelling it. The thrust produced by this series of atomic detonations was exponentially in excess of the thrust produced by conventional, chemical means. Atomic propulsion could get the spacecraft to go close to the speed of light, something like 75%, as I recall. It would make interstellar space travel plausible. I remembered that one of the technological concerns of such speed was that if the spacecraft collided with a speck of interstellar dust it would be struck with the force of a nuclear weapon. Which, you could see why that would be a concern. I remembered that the program had to be canceled because of a Cold War era American-Soviet treaty. But I could not for the life of me remember in what book I read this nor what the program was called. Until now. Project Orion. Now back to looking for that book on the court.
