Introduction to Nuclear Propulsion- Introduction and Background Lecture 1

[97K15004WD]

From NASA:

Introduction to Nuclear Propulsion- Introduction and Background Lecture 1

Introduction to Nuclear Propulsion- Introduction and Background Lecture 1, Feb. 26-28, 1963 - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Differentiation between nuclear and chemical propulsion systems in space vehicles

ntrs.nasa.gov

This is really cool, old school propulsion. IIRC, the Russians are using this type of tech for their nuclear cruise missile:

9M730 Burevestnik - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[y_p_w]

Yeah. Designing a nuclear powered device designed to blow up (that isn't a nuclear missile) makes a ton of sense. Kind of shocked that they're actually developing it.

I do remember seeing some weird stuff when I was a teenager. Lyndon LaRouche (not getting into his politics, but some of the stuff he proposed was pure fantasy) used to pay for infomercials and one I remember he was talking about developing matter-antimatter technology to power space flight.

 

[john_pifer]

Seems like desperation, resulting from paranoia.

Let’s develop the scariest doomsday weapon we can, to try to scare the west.

Not gonna matter in the event of WWIII.

 

[eljefino]

That wiki links to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_Low_Altitude_Missile, a cold war horror-show in its own right.

 

[97K15004WD]

Yeah, the whole thing is kind of crazy to me as I remember a lot of the "promise" of nuclear travel to the stars. Endless power to drive whatever matter was captured in the "intakes" through heating, expansion, and expelled to produce propulsion.

Great idea, but it's the execution that gets you