Machines | Project Orion
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Project Orion was a study of a spacecraft intended to be directly propelled by a series of explosions of atomic bombs behind the craft (nuclear pulse propulsion). Early versions of this vehicle were proposed to take off from the ground with significant associated nuclear fallout; later versions were presented for use only in space. A 1955 Los Alamos Laboratory document states (without offering references) that general proposals were first made by Stanislaw Ulam in 1946, and that preliminary calculations were made by F. Reines and Ulam in a Los Alamos memorandum dated 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 Orion concept offered high thrust and high specific impulse, or propellant efficiency, at the same time. The unprecedented extreme power requirements for doing so would be met by nuclear explosions, of such power relative to the vehicle's mass as to be survived only by using external detonations without attempting to contain them in internal structures. As a qualitative comparison, traditional chemical rockets—such as the Saturn V that took the Apollo program to the Moon—produce high thrust with low specific impulse, whereas electric ion engines produce a small amount of thrust very efficiently. Orion would have offered performance greater than the most advanced conventional or nuclear rocket engines then under consideration. Supporters of Project Orion felt that it had potential for cheap interplanetary travel, but it lost political approval over concerns with fallout from its propulsion. The Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963 is generally acknowledged to have ended the project. However, from Project Longshot to Project Daedalus, Mini-Mag Orion, and other proposals which reach engineering analysis at the level of considering thermal power dissipation, the principle of external nuclear pulse propulsion to maximize survivable power has remained common among serious concepts for interstellar flight without external power beaming and for very high-performance interplanetary flight. Such later proposals have tended to modify the basic principle by envisioning equipment driving detonation of much smaller fission or fusion pellets, although in contrast Project Orion's larger nuclear pulse units (nuclear bombs) were based on less speculative technology. Note: I do not own any right on this video. ALSO CHECK OUR PAGE ON FACEBOOK! https://www.facebook.com/militarygifs/ This is a brand new project and everyone is welcome. Daily GIF uploads GUARANTEED! I will be grateful if you could spend 1 minute to check our GIFs and to LIKE our page, If you find this page interesting, also share it with friends :) Enjoy!
Comments
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Does it needs oxidizer?
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could you not set the bombs off underground and shoot the rocket through a long buried tube the radiation would stay 2 deep in the earth to hurt anyone and the rocket would probably travel faster if the explosions were compressed in the tube like a bullet in the barrel of a gun
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The Orion colony. How do you deal with the lack of gravity.
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At 24:32 That is a Chimp not a monkey.
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Project Orion is a good way to ensure that a nuclear war will not occur. Also, artificial gravity can be created through spinning. Since Orion was a cylinder, it can be rotated to create artificial gravity. Gravity is one thing that I will incorporate into any space cruise liner.
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No. No. No. Bad scientists. Bad. Bad bad bad. No plutonium for you!
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Jesus Christ there be some retarded ass comments up in here.
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in the vacuum of space there would be no medium (atmosphere) to produce impact thrust on the vessel........if i am wrong please tell me...thank you
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Imagine doing this on Point Loma today...
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one of the genius says : " it is nice to have his own private home for traveling into space " ... hopefully soon after this project they could play for good with Vietnam war - 10 years for exporting the american dream in asia is another great project ...
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from the begining these "genius" knew they counld nt solve the "problem" of the nuclear clouds drifting away (poisoning the world - but if it is not usa.land .. ) still they kept on working on this mad project. Same Dc Strangelove type of ambitious jerks work at wall st or nasa ... Wonder why people are "anti usa " ?
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How in the world did this project ever receive funding? These so-called scientists were a bunch of loons! Just listen to their dreamy non-realistic aspirations and goals of the project. Talking about landing this thing on Mars, raising barn yard animals and viewing Saturn's rings. Lofty, to say the least. But however lofty it was a very interesting way of utilizing the power of the atomic blast. Thanks for sharing this rare video.