The nuclear pulse drive would power a spacecraft with a series of nuclear explosions. Project Orion, led by Freeman Dyson, planned a four-year round trip to the moons of Saturn. After Orion was abandoned, pulse drive has led to several…
Blog Archives
Inspirations: Riding the bomb to Saturn
Tagged with: Alan Bond, Ark, Arthur C Clarke, Atom bomb, British Interplanetary Society, Footfall, Freeman Dyson, Friedwardt Winterberg, General Atomics, George Dyson, Jaromir Astl, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Mininuke, Nuclear fission, Nuclear fusion, Nuclear Pulse Drive, Physics, Planetary science, Project Daedalus, Project Icarus, Project Orion, Putt-putt, Science, science fiction, Spaceflight, Stanislaw Ulam, Stephen Baxter, Ted Taylor
Posted in Inspirations, Wednesday Pontification
Posted in Inspirations, Wednesday Pontification
Into the Kuiper Belt
In 1930, a young astronomer called Clyde Tombaugh noticed something moving across successive photographs of a starfield, and discovered Pluto. In 2006, 30g of Tombaugh’s ashes were loaded aboard NASA’s New Horizons probe before it blasted off for Pluto. Yesterday,…
Tagged with: Astronomy, Kuiper Belt, New Horizons, Pluto, Science, Spaceflight
Posted in Current affairs
Posted in Current affairs
Greater Minds: Arthur C Clarke looks back
Arthur C Clarke wrote his Space Odyssey series between 1948 and 1997. Each sequel updated speculations on exobiology. HAL 9000 is a memorable character and a paradigm for contemporary discussions of artificial intelligence. We have not explored the solar system…
Tagged with: 2001, Arthur C Clarke, Artificial intelligence, Exploration, Planetary science, Science, science fiction, Space Odyssey, Spaceflight, Stanley Kubrick
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Greater Minds: The Faustian pacts of Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun designed V-2 rockets for Nazi Germany, Redstone missiles for the US military and the Saturn V for NASA. He was a brilliant engineer and an evangelical Christian who directed a concentration camp. He escaped prosecution for crimes…
Tagged with: Apollo, History, Mittelwerk, NASA, Redstone, Reg Turnill, Saturn V, Spaceflight, Tom Lehrer, V-2, Wernher von Braun, World War Two
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
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