Oleg Zabluda's blog
Thursday, May 31, 2012
 
Project Orion was a 10,000 tons spacecraft, with 6,000 tons payload, propelled by explosions of 8000 0.33kt fission...
Project Orion was a 10,000 tons spacecraft, with 6,000 tons payload, propelled by explosions of 8000 0.33kt fission bombs behind the craft one bomb per second. By increasing bomb yield, payload could be increased to 8,000,000 tons with 1958 technology. Exhaust velocity is 20-30 km/s, Isp=1,500. Twice that with directional.

By switching to 300,000 deuterium fusion 1Mt bombs (weighing 1 ton each), the payload mass would be 100,000 tons, and velocity 10,000 km/s (0.03c) (1 g for 10 days). Exhaust velocity ~30,000 km/s (0.1c). Isp=1,500,000.

First proposal was made by Stanislaw Ulam in 1946, and preliminary calculations were made by F. Reines and Ulam in a Los Alamos in 1947. The actual project, initiated in 1958, 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, US to work on the project. The Atmospheric/Space Test Ban Treaty of 1963 have ended the project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter_catalyzed_nuclear_pulse_propulsion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_propulsion

"To Mars by A-Bomb: The Secret History of Project Orion" BBC (2003), with footage of flying tests (42:40 mark) and comments by Arthur Clarke and Freeman Dyson.
To Mars By A-Bomb - The Secret History of Project Orion - BBC - Nuclear Propulsion - (FULL)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1039992/

"Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship" By George Dyson (2003), son of Freeman Dyson.
http://books.google.com/books?id=r_Gu4f0QxrkC

http://yarchive.net/space/exotic/orion.html
Orion's Isp is acceleration-limited, especially...
"""
For manned systems, the crew are often the limiting factor.  The achievable delta-V is roughly n*sqrt(d*a), where n is number of bombs, d is shock-absorber stroke distance, and a is maximum tolerable acceleration
"""

Project Orion: A Re-Imagining
Project Orion: A Re-Imagining
Soundtrack: "Woad to Ruin" by Hans Zimmer from "King Arthur" (2004)
Woad to Ruin - Hans Zimmer (King Arthur OST) HDHQ

Mission to Mars: Orion nuclear propulsion:
Mission to Mars: Orion nuclear propulsion - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator
Soundtrack: Holst "The Planets, 1. Mars, The Bringer Of War"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

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