The Nuclear Rocket continued

Another reason why the book is such a slow slog is that it is so thought provoking.

An example is the analogy of a nuclear rocket system with the transportation business ( page 74).  It just so happens to be the business that I have been in for the past 30 years.  Something like this is right down my alley, as a manner of speaking.  This analogy made me think.

Thus, it struck me that the Space Shuttle was called upon to do too many things.  It was called the Space Transportation System, but such a thing expected from just one vehicle was too much to ask.  It's like using an 18 wheeler as a taxi.  If you did that in the taxi business you'd go broke pretty fast.  No wonder the main mission of the Shuttle, which was to make space more economically accessible---failed.

Instead of a Shuttle that was expected to do it all, it could have been tasked to be a reusable system only with the mission of taking a crew to orbit- a taxi.  NASA already had a heavy lifter, the Saturn V.  NASA could have made it a super heavy with the nuclearized Saturn V, but the Rover / Nerva nuclear upper stage got canceled along with the Saturn.  Something had to replace the Saturn, so the Shuttle by necessity was tasked with not only delivering a lot of cargo, but crew as well.  If the Saturn could only have been retained, the Shuttle could have had a less ambitious mission, and a better chance at success.

Dewar said in his book that NASA prohibited the use of nuclear rockets to get to low Earth orbit ( LEO).  Some may object to blaming NASA, but the taboo against nuclear rockets appears to be NASA's idea.  Thus, the Shuttle became a consequence of the prior decision made by NASA and is NASA's fault.

So, if the nuclear Saturn had been retained, it could have lifted super heavy stuff to orbit which could have used as the main mass in a larger mission.  It would have been the 18 wheeler that could deliver a half million pounds to LEO.  The reusable Shuttle could have been used for delivering crew only for rendezvous with the cargo.  Thus, the Shuttle could have been smaller and much, much cheaper to build and maintain.  Like comparing an 18 wheeler to a taxi.  The transportation system could have had specialized vehicles to do specialized tasks.  The super heavy lifters to deliver the big stuff, the reusable Shuttles to bring small amounts of cargo to space and back.  The Shuttle could have been a taxi and the nuclear Saturn could have been the 18 wheeler.  Very logical and consistent and no need to re-invent the wheel.

Such was not to be because of the taboo against using nuclear rockets to get to LEO.