Large Space Fighter L.F. Length: 20 Diameter: 5 Crew: 2 Armament: 8 Missiles 1 Turret railgun SpaceDrive: Zubrin Drive Appendix http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3c2.html#nswr External Pulsed Plasma Propulsion. http://www.angelfire.com/stars2/projectorion/EPPP.html NUCLEAR PULSE SPACE VEHICLE STUDY Vol -I---SUMMSRY Gerge C. Marshall Space Flight Ceter Future Projects Offece National Aeronautics and Space Administration Huntaville, Albama Contract NAS 8-11053 http://66.49.163.218/data/orion_summary.pdf http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/oriturnv.htm
I'd just like to say that, given that the government wouldn't like anything nuclear on civilian spacecraft, ("SpaceShipSeven") it'd be most likely that the ship would rely on chemical fuels until rendevous with the nuclear-engine at an orbital port.
Unless, of course, SpaceShipSeven is not civilian, but part of NASA or the Air Force. Given the name, I'd say it is corporate, and not government property.
Hello Folks, Please see www.nuclearspace.com for the "preview" Orion what if gallery that explores what would have happened if Orion would have gone on until today. There are models that will be built as well as experimetal video showing a narration of an Orion launching from Earth and on to Enculadus at Saturn. All artists may contribute and are welcomed to create new images and ideas. Click the Orion article on the main page.
I liked the basic concept--should be pretty exciting. It's too bad that the hydrodynamics of the shockwaves rebounding off the pusher plate can't be modelled. I would imagine that in Earth's atmosphere, for small yield pulse units bursting fairly close to the pusher plate, that the fireballs may briefly take on the look of an inverted mushroom or a doughnut because of the reflected shock. A 'Mach Stem' may form pointing away from the pusher plate (and down toward the ground.) Obviously convection will eventually lift the fireballs up, but not before Orion flys away and get's whacked by another pusle unit.
The visuals of such a launch ought to be stunningly spectacular in real life. [In my humble opinion, just the artistic value of Orion alone ought to be justification enough to actually build it! But then I'm a Romantic about such things!]
I noticed that your 'habitat or crew compartment' was a sphere---a nice allusion to the USS Discovery in Arthur C. Clarke's and Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Thanks Ty, The spheroid was actually just a hybrid idea. The model, video and future renderings will be like the Mark 2 pictured in Dyson's book. The Mark 2 on Mark Wade's website, under Planetary Orion, was more of a Mark 4, per Mr. Dyson.
Terry's first rendering is a pretty good one as well.
Ill be experimenting with small models on video then branch to a very large Mark 2 Orion for science museum display. Should be a great public interest project.
