STARSHIPS 163
NUCLEAR PULSED ROCKETS
Another distant possibility is to use a series of mini-nuclear bombs to
propel a starship. In Project Orion, mini-atomic bombs were to be
ejected out the back of the rocket in sequence, so that the spacecraft
would "ride" on the shock waves created by these mini-hydrogen
bombs. On paper such a design could take a spacecraft close to the
speed of light. Originally conceived in 1947 by Stanislaw Ulam, who
helped to design the first hydrogen bombs, the idea was further developed by Ted Taylor (one of the chief designers of nuclear warheads for
the U.S. military) and physicist Freeman Dyson of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
In the late 1950s and 1960s elaborate calculations were made for
this interstellar rocket. It was estimated that such a starship could
make it to Pluto and back within a year, with a top cruising velocity of
10 percent the speed of light. But even at that speed it would take about
forty-four years to reach the nearest star. Scientists have speculated
that a space ark powered by such a rocket would have to cruise for
centuries, with a multigenerational crew whose offspring would be
born and spend all their lives on the space ark, in order that their descendants could reach the nearby stars.
In 1959 General Atomics issued a report estimating the size of an
Orion spacecraft. The largest version, called the super Orion, would
weigh 8 million tons, have a diameter of 400 meters, and be energized
by over 1,000 hydrogen bombs.
But one major problem with the project was the possibility of contamination via nuclear fallout during launch. Dyson estimated that the
nuclear fallout from each launch could cause fatal cancers in ten people. In addition, the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) for such a launch
would be so great that it could cause massive short circuits in neighboring electrical systems.
The signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963 sounded the
death knell of the project. Eventually the main driving force pushing
the project, nuclear bomb designer Ted Taylor, gave up. (He once confided to me that he finally became disillusioned with the project when
NUCLEAR PULSED ROCKETS
Another distant possibility is to use a series of mini-nuclear bombs to
propel a starship. In Project Orion, mini-atomic bombs were to be
ejected out the back of the rocket in sequence, so that the spacecraft
would "ride" on the shock waves created by these mini-hydrogen
bombs. On paper such a design could take a spacecraft close to the
speed of light. Originally conceived in 1947 by Stanislaw Ulam, who
helped to design the first hydrogen bombs, the idea was further developed by Ted Taylor (one of the chief designers of nuclear warheads for
the U.S. military) and physicist Freeman Dyson of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
In the late 1950s and 1960s elaborate calculations were made for
this interstellar rocket. It was estimated that such a starship could
make it to Pluto and back within a year, with a top cruising velocity of
10 percent the speed of light. But even at that speed it would take about
forty-four years to reach the nearest star. Scientists have speculated
that a space ark powered by such a rocket would have to cruise for
centuries, with a multigenerational crew whose offspring would be
born and spend all their lives on the space ark, in order that their descendants could reach the nearby stars.
In 1959 General Atomics issued a report estimating the size of an
Orion spacecraft. The largest version, called the super Orion, would
weigh 8 million tons, have a diameter of 400 meters, and be energized
by over 1,000 hydrogen bombs.
But one major problem with the project was the possibility of contamination via nuclear fallout during launch. Dyson estimated that the
nuclear fallout from each launch could cause fatal cancers in ten people. In addition, the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) for such a launch
would be so great that it could cause massive short circuits in neighboring electrical systems.
The signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963 sounded the
death knell of the project. Eventually the main driving force pushing
the project, nuclear bomb designer Ted Taylor, gave up. (He once confided to me that he finally became disillusioned with the project when