Nuclear pulse propulsion or external pulsed plasma propulsion, is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion that uses nuclear explosions for thrust. It was first developed as Project Orion by DARPA, after a suggestion by Stanislaw Ulam in 1947. Newer designs using inertial confinement fusion have been the baseline for most post-Orion designs, including Project Daedalus and Project Longshot.
Read more about Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: Project Orion, Project Daedalus, Medusa, Project Longshot, Antimatter Catalyzed Nuclear Pulse Propulsion
Famous quotes containing the words nuclear and/or pulse:
“American universities are organized on the principle of the nuclear rather than the extended family. Graduate students are grimly trained to be technicians rather than connoisseurs. The old German style of universal scholarship has gone.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“While our pulse beats and we feel emotion, let us put off the business. Things will truly seem different to us when we have quieted and cooled down. It is passion that is in command at first, it is passion that speaks, it is not we ourselves.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)