A Space Age R100 or R101?

[james_davis_nicoll]

The drama of the Orion nuclear rocket revisited.

Of course, comparing an Orion to the R101 is unfair: the R101 actually got built.

Comments

Boom! Boom Boom Boom! BOOM!

[seawasp]

Old Bang-Bang lives!

I really wanted to use one of those in the sequel to Boundary, but I just couldn't convince myself that you'd be able to get THAT past all the political objections. "Hello, I want to have 500 nuclear bombs, PURELY for PEACEFUL PURPOSES!"

Re: Boom! Boom Boom Boom! BOOM!

[brooksmoses]

Does it help that you don't want them attached to delivery systems?

(Probably not; Orions want little bombs of the sort that you probably deliver hidden in a container or something like that, rather than via rocket.)

Re: Boom! Boom Boom Boom! BOOM!

[seawasp]

Um, are you forgetting the SPACESHIP I'm planning to put the nukes INTO? I've got your delivery system RIGHT HERE, and it's armored to TAKE THE BLAST, even.

Re: Boom! Boom Boom Boom! BOOM!

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

"You guys do what I want, or I am going to land my nuclear bomb powered spacecraft right in the middle of what used to be your city before I landed on it."

Re: Boom! Boom Boom Boom! BOOM!

[(Anonymous)]

You know, I've never figured out how you _land_ one of those things without some sort of supplementary propulsion. Using nukes, it strikes me as a bit tricky to kill the last bit of velocity, once you're within a few hundred feet of the ground...graduated sizes of nukes?

Bruce