Next Big Future: Another attempt to make the case for Project Orion...: Gary Michael Church makes the case for reviving project Orion on the Lifeboat Foundation blog (H/T Centauri Dreams ) Psychological limit...
Comment:
I remember this article and it seemed grandiose at the time. Now it doesn't seem that way to me. It seems necessary to me now if we are ever to become a multi-planet species. Chemical rockets aren't good enough. Even nuclear thermal rockets aren't good enough. Nuclear thermal may be good enough for relatively small time tasks like refueling stations in space. But the real serious stuff will have to wait until we get serious. We aren't serious now.
The size of station that can be lifted would be big enough house hundreds of people. It could provide shelter and artificial gravity for long-term missions. It would be a practical way to explore the solar system and to colonize it. It could be done in the near future.
All it takes is someone with the will to do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment