Welcome

The Story of Orion
History
How It Worked
Legality
Fallout
Future

People
Freeman Dyson
George Dyson
Stanislaw Ulam
Ted Taylor

Books
Project Orion
Fiction

Videos
Factual
Fiction


 
     
Welcome
   

"Our motto was 'Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970'" - Freeman J. Dyson
The Atomic Spaceship

Project Orion was a US project to develop a spacecraft powered by nuclear explosions. Although it may sound implausible at first glance, research carried out by leading scientists and engineers of the day, including Freeman Dyson, indicated that such a project was not only feasible but would vastly outperform any chemical rocket system ever developed or even conceived - including Saturn V (used in the Apollo program), the Space Shuttle, and the new Ares system which is still under development (the crew module for Ares is also known as "Orion", but it is unrelated to the original Project Orion).

It should also be noted that supporters of Project Orion included Werner von Braun, who of course developed the German V-2 rocket and later became a leading figure in NASA. Werner von Braun was reportedly initially skeptical, but later became an enthusiastic supporter of Orion. Other prominent supporters of the project, included the Nobel prize winning physicist Niels Bohr, visionary and author Arthur C. Clarke, and the then head of US Strategic Air Command, General Thomas S. Power.

Artist's impression of a 6,000 ton Project Orion manned mission to Saturn
Here are some other noteworthy facts about Project Orion:
  • A single Project Orion mission would have been sufficient to establish a large permanent moon base.

  • Project Orion aimed for a manned mission to Mars by 1965.

  • Project Orion aimed for a manned mission to Saturn by 1970.

  • A ship powered by the Orion drive could have travelled to Pluto and back to Earth in less than a year. (by contrast, NASA's New Horizon's space probe took more than 9 years to travel to Pluto from Earth, with absolutely no prospect of ever returning).

  • The spacecraft envisaged for Project Orion were single-stage and entirely reusable. Unlike Saturn V, the Space Shuttle, Ares, etc., there are no discardable fuel tanks or booster rockets. In Project Orion, the entire craft would travel to its destination, regardless of whether that is Earth orbit, the moon, Mars or Saturn.

  • Project Orion plans were developed for craft varying in size from 300 tons (the smallest version) to 8,000,000 tons (the size of a small city). By comparison, the Shuttle orbiter has a mass of approximately 110 tons and ould carry about 30 tons of payload into low Earth orbit, and the Saturn V rocket could launch about 120 tons in low Earth orbit or 50 tons into lunar orbit.

  • Including development and all other costs, Project Orion was estimated to be at least 20 times cheaper per pound, than any chemical rocket, at putting payload into low Earth orbit... and vastly cheaper for more distant destinations.

  • The scientists working on Project Orion didn't just plan to send a few highly trained astronauts on space missions; they intended to go themselves to Saturn, in many cases taking their wives and children with them!
Despite its promise, and despite the fact that is was backed by many prominent figures in the physics and space community, Project Orion never progressed beyond research (the research indicated the project was entirely feasible). The project was outmanoeuvred by its opponents, and killed for political reasons.
  • Here is a video from the BBC program "To Mars by A-Bomb" including the demonstration model, and some comments by Arthur C. Clarke and Freeman Dyson:

To discover more about Project Orion, please use the menu on the left of this page.

 
 
 

 
 
Copyright © 2008-2024, Answers 2000 Limited

CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE,COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.

Disclosure: Our company's websites' content (including this website's content) includes advertisements for our own company's websites, products, and services, and for other organization's websites, products, and services. In the case of links to other organization's websites, our company may receive a payment, (1) if you purchase products or services, or (2) if you sign-up for third party offers, after following links from this website. Unless specifically otherwise stated, information about other organization's products and services, is based on information provided by that organization, the product/service vendor, and/or publicly available information - and should not be taken to mean that we have used the product/service in question. Additionally, our company's websites contain some adverts which we are paid to display, but whose content is not selected by us, such as Google AdSense ads. For more detailed information, please see Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

Our sites use cookies, some of which may already be set on your computer. Use of our site constitutes consent for this. For details, please see Privacy.

Click privacy for information about our company's privacy, data collection and data retention policies, and your rights.

Contact Us   Privacy   Terms of Use   Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

In Association With Amazon.com
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
In Association With Amazon.co.uk
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.
As an Amazon Associate, our company earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon, the Amazon logo, Endless, and the Endless logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.


All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
All third party content and adverts are copyright of their respective owners.