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1. • CommentAuthorWill Ellwood
   • CommentTimeOct 7th 2009

    (2145.141)
   
   
   Each bit of C4 would be a nuke on the full scale thing.
2. •  
     CommentAuthorwarrenellis
   • CommentTimeOct 7th 2009

    (2145.142)
   James: there's much writing about Project Orion on the web, as well as at least one good solid tv documentary. It all makes for fascinating and rewarding reading.
3. • CommentAuthorPhranky
   • CommentTimeOct 14th 2009 edited

    (2145.143)
   Project Orion and the Alcubierre warp drive was mentioned (and subsequently put into practice) in the Stephen Baxter novel's 'Flood' and 'Ark'.
4. • CommentAuthorStefanJ
   • CommentTimeOct 14th 2009

    (2145.144)
   Didn't know about the Orion TV documentary. Based on George D.'s book?
   
   Bomb-drive ships feature in a lot of SF novels, some going way back. Pohl & Williamson's Farthest Star was set in a gritty generation ship driven by hydrogen bombs. There was a Pournelle novel too. King David's Spaceship I think.
5. •  
     CommentAuthorstsparky
   • CommentTimeOct 14th 2009

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   @StefanJ - the Orion is the hero of Footfall by Niven & Pournelle.
6. • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
   • CommentTimeOct 30th 2009

    (2145.146)
   The head of the Russian space program is talking about building a nuclear spaceship for a Mars mission.
   
   No design details are involved but apparently it'd have a megawatt size nuclear reactor on board - so not NERVA. More likely either a nuclear-powered ion drive or a rocket system using the reactor to heat the reaction mass.
   
   Supposedly, the detailed design would be completed by 2012 with the ship ready to fly in 2018, all on a budget of US$600 million.
7. • CommentAuthorPhranky
   • CommentTimeOct 30th 2009

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   @Kosmopolit - ...and built by Russians. There is no way a nuclear powered spacecraft could go wrong.
8. • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
   • CommentTimeOct 30th 2009

    (2145.148)
   Well the Soyuz has been kicking arse and taking names for 40 years or so but that's probably because it was the last (posthumous) product of Korolev's genius.