ProjectOrion.com
Orion is one of the great "what if's" of the twentieth century. Today, nuclear powered spaceships seem like little more than laughably naive 1950's science fiction, but it might have been otherwise...and still could be. Orion was the code name of a project designed to discover the feasibility of spaceships driven by nuclear bombs.
The initial plan called for manned missions to Mars by 1965 and Saturn by 1970. After seven years of work, the project's technical challenges seemed surmountable, but political obstacles brought the effort to a halt.
This was the most shortsighted decision in all of history. The public was never consulted and instead we redirected all funding towards Apollo. We put a flag on the moon and nobody has been back there in over 30 years. We might have gone Pluto.
An Orion could be launched safely from Earth. Even back in the 60's an entire 'series' of launches would only have produced 1% of the fallout known to have been created from weapons testing. One launch today with strategies in place to reduce residual radiation would cause no measurable damage to the environment but would open space to colonisation. The research and development money would be well spent as further Orions could be built from space resources. An Orion could lift all the industrial infrastructure necessary to mine, refine and use asteroid material.
In no time at all we would have a fleet of heavy ships perhaps 100,000 tons each ready and waiting to take us anywhere in the solar system. The profits from various space industries would be astronomical. The TV rights alone would finance a new range of orbital vehicles for meeting these Super Space Carriers. Within 20 years we might be building Starships. There would be bases on every suitable moon and planet. Research stations as far out as the Oort cloud.
Building an Orion requires no government permission or new technology. The pulse units are too difficult to obtain so we ignore them for now. Without pulse units the cost is atleast halved and the engineering becomes straightforward. Pulse units might later be designed to suit the vehicle. That will depend upon the political climate. Ultimately in the hands of the public who will need to become more informed. A real Orion ready and waiting to be fueled up would provide the motivational force for such eduction.
Even if it never launches it will still make a great tourist attraction.
So I've started a fund.
ProjectOrion.com