Journa l of the British Interplan etary Society, Vol. 32, pp. 283-310, 1979.

NUCLEAR PULSE PROPULSION: A HISTORICAL REVIEW OF AN ADVANCED PROPULSION

CONCEPT

ANTHONY R. MARTlN and ALAN BOND*

Cu/ham Laboratory , Abingdon, Oxon, OX 14 JDB, England.

The nuclear pulse propulsion con cept, whereby nuclear explosions (fission or fusion) are used to impart momentum
to a space ve hi cle, is reviewed. The principles behind the concept are discussed , and the ex te rnal system (explosions tak-
ing place o utsi-de the vehi cle) and the internal syste m (explosions taking place inside the vehicle) are compa red .
Capabilities of nu c lear pulse systems are exa min ed, de mo nstrating the great advantage Uus system has over other
concepts, in terms of high exhaust velocities (specific impul se) and large thrust to mass ratios and hence capability for
short mission tim es.
The various studies that have been carried o ut on the co ncept o ver the past 25 years are described and a bibliography,
the most comprehensive produced to date as far as the authors are aware, is given.
Jn view of the great potential of t he system, amply co nfirm ed by the past work , it is suggeste d that effo rt be
e xpended on a programme to develop nuclear pulse propulsio n as a means of exp loiting the Solar System.

I. INTRODUCTION
COMPA R ED WLTH THE DISTANCES t hat Mankind has so
far travelled , the Solar Syste m is vast . Future space explora-
tion, and in partic ular rapid manned exp lorat ion , will require
propulsion syste ms that are much more advanced than
present-day systems. Flight t im es associate d with minimum
energy (Hohmann-type) transfers bet wee n orbits will be
intolerable in the co nte xt of large-scale Solar System exploi-
tation and transpo rt. To re duce such fli ght times, more direct
ballistic traj ectories at mu ch higher velocities will be required.
This, in t urn , me11n s that the vehicle ex haust veloc ity
must be high, in ord er lha l the mass remaining at t he end of
the periods of accele rat ion and de celeration be an ap preci-
able fraction of lhe initial mass, i. e. a favourabl e ma ss ratio.
In addition, if the acce le ration Lime is to be kept short co m-
pare d with the tota l mi ssion lim e, the n the nee d for a high
e xhaust velo city leads , in its lurn , to the req uire me nl that
the engin e specific power and tota l power be high.
This revie w discusses on' possible met hod of at t ain ing
these goa ls - the nu clea r puls rocke t - and reco unts so me
of t he hi story of the work whi h ha s bee n ca rri ed out o n
this co n cept o ver t he last 25 y a rs.
The idea of a rocke t ve hi cle drive n by a sequ e nce of
exp losive pulses ca n be traced bacl to a .c rman ae ronauti cal
e ngin eer, Hermann Gansw indt , who publi shed hi s ideas in
t he 1890s [ l]. A sc ie ntifi c study of this propo~a l was pub-
l.ished by a physicist , R. B. Gost kowsk i, i11 1900 I' 2 1. 1n this
concept the ve hi cle was driven by a cha in o f pulses from
dyn a mite charges ex ploded in a chamber o pe n n o ne sid e.
Ganswindt thought that mann e d fli ghl to Mars and Ve nu s
would be possible using his met hod, and t his is tru e. Th e use
o f che mica l fu els lead s to transit times of lh e o rd er o f years ,
but do es not invalidate his conclusions. Ganswincll 111ust
have arrived at his proposed mode of propulsion by co nsid e ra-
tion of th e fact that explosives ljke dynamite have a higher
energy per unit mass than o ther, more co ntrolle d , so lid fu els
such as black powder.
* Th e authors would like to no te that this work is a private
venture, and is in no way co nnec ted with th eir duties at
Cu /ham Laborato ry. All opinions and interpreta tio ns
ex pressed in this paper are tho se of the authors, and not
of Cu/ham Laborato ry or the British Interplan etary
So cie ty.
Th e next significant step in the hi sto ry of t he concept
was the development of the idea of using a ne w form of
explo sive charge with an e ven higher energy per unit mass
than dynamite - the atom bomb. Ge neral proposals of this
sort were first made by Stanislaus Ulam in 1946, and some
preliminary calculation s were made by F. Reines and Ulam
in a Los Alamos Scie ntific Laboratory me mora ndum dated
1947. The subsequent development of the co ncept, termed
nu clear pulse propulsion, is shown in the "Family Tree" of
Fig. 1 which is an attempt to display the interrelated links
of the various proj ects.
The first mathematica l treatment of the concept was
published by Co rn elius Everett and Ulam in 1955 [3]. Fis-
sion bombs with a yield of "v 1kTon were ejected at one
second intervals and detonated at a di stan ce of "v 50 metres
from the base of a sa ucer shaped vehicle. Final velo cities of
the o rd er of 10 ,000 m sec- 1 were discussed. The United
States Atomic Energy Commission was awarded a patent for
th e co ncept, following initial application on 3 Ma rch 19 59
[ 4) . This configuration was termed the extern al nuclear
pulse met hod.
An internal syste m, in which the explosio n took place in
a spheri cal chamber connected to a nozzle, was di scussed in
a Lawrence Radiation Laborato ry (Livermore) R eport by
Fox in 1957 [S]. In the late 195 0s a study was ca rried out
by Cole at the Martin Co m pa ny in Denver on a Nuclear
Born b Pulsed Ro cket [ 6-8) which used water as a propellant
in a 40 metre diam eter chamber. Jn the ea rly l 960s ·a st udy
originally called BATO '( Bomb-A ssisted Take Off) and sub-
sequently called Helios, was cond ucted at Liverm o re [9-14].
.By far the largest effort during this time, how eve r, was
expended on an investiga tion of the ex ternal nu clear pulse
concept, und e r the project name of Orion , in the period
from 1957-1 965 [ 15-69]. Ca rried o ut by the staff at th e
Ge ne ral Atomic Divisio n of General Dynamics, the proj ect
was administe red first by the Advanced Research Projects
Age ncy (ARPA), then by the US Air Force, and finally by
NASA [69). The project, on wlu ch some $10 million was
spent, was finally ter minated on the gro und s that:
(a) the inherent very large size of the vehicle mad e
full scale tests difficult an d costly ;
(b) the nuclear test ban treaty exclud ed testing in the
atmosphere or in space;

283
Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bond

ORIGINS
1946 [ LASL

Jf'
1954
EVERETT and ULAM I
! LASL

56

- -~
,,
SB
.
COLE
60 Martin Co
ORION

General

Atomic
62

,, z
r
64 Q
HELIOS U1
U1
LLL
LL

66
•• z
0
U1
68
I DTSON
Inst Adv St
I ::::>
LL

fRAAS
I
••
l
ORNL
70 - 1 I
I WINTERllEllG
SIRIUS
I I
LASL
•• I I Nevada

72 I
HYDE,WOO I I
&NUCKOLLS
LLL
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71.
DAEDALUS

•Ir 111 s
76 ICARUS I~ ,
I US SR 1,..~>-------------i
WINTERllEllG I
I Neved• I
78

80

rig. 1. Nu clear pulse propulsion family tree.

(c) the NER VA so lid core nuclear e ngin e provided
strong competition ;
(d) no specific mission existed which demand ed such
a high performance system .
The Orion concept wa s the starting poi nt for a study by
Freeman Dyson , who had wo rked on the Project, of the
application of nuclear pulse propulsi o n to interstellar, rat her
than interplanetary, flight [70). The vehicles he discussed
were larger by a sizeable margin than previous designs, but
were quite feasible in principle. Rather than fission bo mbs,
which had been used in all the previous design studies, Dyson
proposed the use of fu sion bombs, thu s obtaining a further
increase in performance.
In 1969, Fra as at Oak Ridge Natio nal Labora tory dis-
cussed the a ppli catio n o f his Blasco n (Blast Containm e nt)
fusion reactor design to a space vehicle [7 1, 72] . Here
pelle ts of deuterium and tritium , surro und ed by a lithium
hydride blanket, were heated to fusion temperatu res by a
high power laser bea m.
However, a developme nt took place severa l yea rs la ter .i n
the la te 1960s and early l 97 0s which rep lace d the con ce pt
of the use of relatively large explosions to prov ide the means
of propulsio n. Studi es, mai nly in the USA , indicated t he
possibility of initiat ing low-yield t hermonuclea r reaction s by
the use of intense laser beam s to co mpress a nd heat very
small pellets of fusionable material to ignition [7 3 I . Th.is use
of co mpression techniques to produ ce small, relatively clean,
fusion explo sio ns rat her than fi ssio n or large-sca le fusion

284
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical Review of an Advanced Propulsion Concept
met hods removes t he two main objections to the ea rlier
co nce pts - large size and nuclear pollution. The two lab-
orato ries most conce rn ed with the development of this new
potential fo r fu sion initiation both carried out studies of
nuclear pulsed ve h.i cles. Los Alamos Scie ntific Laboratory
looked at a conventional exte rn a l system [74-7 6 ] while
Lawrence Livermore Laboratory co nsidered a more advanced
design which used magneti c shield.ing techniques ta in crease
the vehicle ex haust velocity [77-79 ] .
A variant of t he laser system which used high power
electron beams to igni te (but not to compress) the fue l
pellets was proposed by Win terberg in l 971 [80-82 1. This
system ap pears to be the best system fo r exte nsio n to very
large interstellar ve hicles, where a high fuel burn-up fr acti.on
is required, in o rder to give the highest possible ex haust
velocity , rather than a maximised ove rall system energy gain.
Such an interstellar vehicle was designe d in Project Daedalus
[84-88 ] , the starting point of which was the papers by
Nu cko lls et al [73] and Winterberg [82 ) , with the co ncepts
o f Dyson and F raas a lso hav in g an initia l impact during pre-
project discussio ns.
Winterberg late r considered t he use of "multistage"
shaped cha rges in order to procee d stepwise with an exp lo-
sion [83], the compression or each stage being driven by
the o ulpu t from the previous stage. This a llowed a large final
compressio n to be achieved with a moderate initial power
input. By t he use of such a method it was hoped to initiate
thermonu cle ar burn in such "adva nced" fuels as p 11 B, giving
a very clean explosion with a plasma exhaust consisting on ly
of charged particles.
Details of wo r k o n nuclear pulse propulsion in t he Soviet
Un ion are a lmost non-existent, a lt ho ugh such work may be
assumed to have been carrie d o ut. Ce rtainly, Soviet scien tists
were aware of the US effo rt [89, 90 .I. The first concrete
report of a nuclea r pu lse vehicle study was that of Filyukov
and Zakiiov in 1976 [9 1I , where they reporte d work on
Icarus. The project nam e was chosen to underline the prox-
imity to the ai111s of Pr ject Dae dalus and to show the dif-
fe re nces o f lhe two projects in some esse ntial points. The
vehicle used lasers to initiate the reactions and was simi lar
to the Liverm ore design in this respect.
The history of a ll I hese developments will be revie wed in
detail in later sections f lh paper. T he review is intended
to be histori ca l and descriptive, rather lhan technical in
nature. Fo r this reaso n, any ne interested in details of a
particular design shou ld refer back lo the origina l references
for technical amp lifica tion. T h· a· 'O un ls of the projects and
descr iptions of the different c ncep ls are a ll based on the
papers listed, although specifi reference is not mad e in
every case, in an attempt to e nha n · lh e readability of the
present rev iew.
2. NUCLEAR PULSE ROCKET DESIGN CONCEPTS
Three designs for nu clea r pu lse rockets have bee n proposed,
and t hese are shown sche matica ll y in F ig. 2. In a ll of them
t he main ve hicle is ass umed to cons ist of lhe pay load and
structure , the propellant , a momentum co nditi on in g un it an d
a momentum abso rber. The designs vary in that the configura-
tion of the momentum absorber is different in each case. It
is assumed that an individual exp losive device (sometimes
ca lled pulse unit) is ejected from the vehicle and deto na ted
at t he correct location . In the resulting nuclear exp losion a
qua n tity of prope llant is heated by the re leased e ne rgy and
expa nds as a h.igh energy plasma, with some fra ct ion inter-
act in g with the vehicle and giving momentum to it . A large
number of exp losio ns take place, probably at equa l interval s.
T he va1·ious vehicle co nfigurations are classifi ed according to
whether the exp losio n lakes place in te rn a lly or externa lly
from the vehicle.
External Magnetically Internal
push<lr shicz lded system
plat• push<r
11108 ~·,
Payload ·
structunz
-,®-
,,
Propellant
storage
111 -<if-
' 1'
a
, o,
- ®-
' •'
Momczntum
~
V
condi tioning
unit / Mom<ntum
abSO<b< r
f- ig. 2. Nuclear pulse rocket design co nce pts (after Ref. 74).
2. I Externa l System with Pusher Plate
This co ncept was historically the first to be proposed. T he
exp losion takes place at some distance from t he vehicle and
a pus her plate, usually e nvisaged as a strong flat, or saucer
shaped , struct ure intercepts and abso rbs the shock of t he
explo sio n. A moment um co ndition ing unit smooth s o ut the
momentum transfe r between pulses to prov·ide a co nsta nt
(or nearly so) acceleration, and to return the plate to its
proper location for the subsequent pulse.
At the beginning of a pulse cycle t he plate is at its maxi-
mum distance from the vehicle. An exp losive charge is fir ed
delivering a n impulse to the plate which exactly reverses its
velocity. As the plate approac hes the vehicle it is decelerated
by the mo men t um conditioner, bringing the plate to rest
wit h respect to the vehicle. I-Jere, a ll t he origi nal kinet ic
e nergy of the plate is stored in pote ntial energy of t he co n-
ditioning unit. Over t he ne xt part of t he cycle the plate is
accelerated away from the ve hi cle, atta ining a final velocity
eq ua l to its ini tial velocity at th e point of maximum exten-
sion .
The specific impulse attainable with th e nuclear pulse
syste m is propo rtio nal to the product of the prope llant
im pingement velocity aga inst the pusher plate t imes the
fractio n of t he tota l pulse uni t mass which strikes the pusher
plate . The impingement velocity is limited by t he ablation
of the pusher p late, with the limit probably in the range of
100-200 km sec- 1. The pu lse unit fraction is determined by
the structure of the exp losive charge and the explosion
stand-off distance , and is in the range of l 0-50%. These two
factors are associated with a small propellant fraction , and
vice versa, due to the momentum balance during the exp lo-
sion. The resulting specific im pu lse lim its are approximately
4,000-1 0,000 seconds.
Rey nolds has stud ied the question of specific impulse
limits for t he external nuclear pu lse rocket in some detail
[92, 93 ] . His model conside rs t he mean propell ant velocity,
pu lse unit fraction , mass loss via ab latio n, collimation factors
to account for charge shaping, t he formation of stagnant
layers at the surface of the pusher plate, a nd varying explo-
sive yields.
Reynolds reached severa l co nclu sions rega rding the per-
formance and operation of external systems as a result of
his st ud y. T here is an optim um ex plosive pulse e nergy to
give t he maximum spec ific im pu lse with a given vehicle size
(assum ing that t he separat ion distan ce betwee n the vehicle
and explosive charge is kept at the minimum dictated by
pressure limitations). An example of this is shown in Fig. 3.
The effective specific impu lse is defined as
285
 Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bond
5000
10,000s
100
u
;;::
·~ 2500
a.
Ill
Cl>
.2:
u
~
ii:i
0 10 20 0 10
Pusher plate diameter(m)
f'ig. 3. Effective specific impulse of an ex tern al system (arter Ref. 92).
where fc is t he fraction of pulse unit mass whi ch in terce pts
the pus he r and fm is the ablation mass loss factor. fc in creases
with decreased pulse energy. Th e total ablation amount also
de creases with smaller pulse energy, but the ratio o r the
total ablation to the total propell ant flow is greater at
sma ller e nergies. It can be see n from Fig. 3 that the maxi-
mum effective specific impulse obtainable from such an
externa l system is 'V 4,000-5 ,000 secs. In crease d mean pro-
pellant ve locity (base specifi c impulse ) does not lea d to large
in creases in effective SI, but increased ve h icJe size (diamete r)
do es lea d to l1igher specific impulses, as long as the pulse
energy is maintaine d at the optimum valu e for a particu lar
size.
A further constraint of this design is the fact that exces-
sive propellant pressures against the pushe r plate will ca use
spallatio n if the resulting inte rnal tens ile stresses excee d the
stre ngths of the plate material whe n th e inte rn a l press ure
wave is re fle cted from e ither surfa ce.
2. 2 External System with Pusher Plate and Magnetic
Field
The above limits on specific i mpulse (ablation and spallat io n)
can be overcome by the use of a magne tic field to shield t he
surface from the high e nergy plasma. Magne tic fie ld lin es are
generated parallel to the surface of a co ndu ct ing pusher plate
and as the plasma from the e xplosion ex pands it pushes the
field lines against the conductor , increasin g the flu x density.
The increased magnetic press ure slows down the plas ma,
reversing its direction and accelerati ng it away from t he
pusher plate .
The impulse is transferred to the plate by magne tic inter-
actions which spread out the force and protect the surface
of the plate from particle impingement. Hence, the propel-
lant particle velo cities can be highe r than for an un shielded
plate , and the specific impulses attained by the system ca n
also be higher.
The use of magn etic shielding was first mentione d by
Everett and Utam [3] and the feature has become standard
on the high power vehicle designs of two deca des later.
2. 3 Internal System
In the third co nfiguration the explosion takes place inside a
286
100 20,000s
20
press ure vessel which has a co nventional ro cket no zzle,
t hro ugh wh.i ch heated prop ellant is dis charged.
Liquid hydrogen, or wa te r, is fed into the press ure ve ssel
radia lly through the wall , act ing as a coolant befo re uni-
fo rml y filling th e vessel. Th e exp losio n takes place at the
centre of the vessel, propagating a shock wave thro ugh the
hydroge n until it is refl ected from the walls. The wave is sub-
sequ ently reflected back and forth in the vessel, increasing
the interna l energy of the hyd rogen until eq uilibrium is
established. This t ak es a few milliseco nds, after which the
ho t gas is e xpanded through a no zzle while the pressure
vessel is refilled with propellant. T he ex pa nsio n process is
continued un til the previous initial co nditio ns in the vesse l
are re-establish ed, and the cycle is the n repea ted.
Platt and Hanner [ 12 I have investigate d the effect ive
specific impulse obtai nab le fro m in ternal systems as a func-
tion of the weight of the rocket no zzle and pressure vesse l
employed. This weig ht was related t o the propella nt co ndi-
tions and to the prope rties and co nditions of the const ru c-
tion mate ria ls. Negligible rad ia tion of e ne rgy fr om the vessel
was assume d. The vesse l material wa s allowed to be stressed
to 25% of its yi eld st ress in the calcul ations. It wa s found
that , while the specific impulse was not strictly limite d by
any of the ass umptions made in the st ud y, valu es of SI >
1,400 seco nds would require very heavy e ngines. This is
illu strated in Fig. 4 , where the effec tive vehicle. SI is shown
as a function of engine weig ht and ex plo sive cha rge weight.
The example is for an explosion rep et itio n rate of fiv e
seconds, but values of 2.5 and I 0 seco nds made esse ntially
no difference to the conclusions.
2. 4 Comparison of Internal and External Systems
Initially , the internal conce pt appeared attractive, as the
efficie ncy with which the explosion energy could be co n-
verted into impulse was very high, as a result of almost com-
pletely surrounding the explosion by a press ure vessel. The
energy of the exp losio n wa s almost totally absorbed by the
propellant and the nozzle directed the propellant into a well-
colllmated exhaust. These properties meant that less energy
must be expended in the internal syste m in order to achieve
a given specifi c impulse , thus red ucing the yield and mass of
the explo sive charges.
However, the internal system possesses severa l inherent
disadvantages compared with the external syste m and the
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical Review of an Advanced Propulsion Concept
1500 _ _ _ 18.lkgm
- - - - - 3 1.8
45 .4
~
:;"'"'
0.
_i; 1000
..,·c;u
"'0.
"'
Pulse period = 5s
Fraction of yield s trength
"'u~ = 0.25
"'
:t:
UJ
500
OL-_ _ _ _J _ _ _ _ _ _ L _ _ _ __.1._ _ _ __ _ J
0 5 10 15
4
Rocke t motor mass ( 10 kgm)
Fig. 4. Effective specific impulse of an internal system (after Ref.12).
early recognition of these problems is the main reason why
external design studies have had more emphasis placed on
them .
There are two main limitations to the performance which
an intern al system can achieve:
(a) Radiation heat ing of the vehic le.
Fission and fusion reactions (at least , the ones to find early
application in the latter case) produ ce neutrons wh ich carry
a large part of the explosion energy . Ne utron scatt ering in
the vehicle structure deposits e nergy direct ly by collision,
and by inducin g -y-reacti.ons in the structural material with
some fra c;tion of the -y-cne rgy bciJ1g subsequently deposited
in the vehicle. The ve hi cle Lilli s requires cooling, and this is
the dominant performan ce-Linritin g factor in the internal
design, beca use the pressure vesse l e nve lops the whole explo-
sion allowing fo r maxirnunt radia ti n heat ing.
The resulting specific impulse limit depends on the energy
derived from t he exp losion, bul it is gene rally ,;E 1,5 00 secs,
at least an order of magnitud e worse lhan that of an exte rnal
system with the same explosive charge mass .
The use of more a dvanced "c lean" rusi n fuels, where the
neutron productio n is significantly lower, is e xpected to miti-
gate thi s stage of affairs somewhat , but th e heat deposition
will almost ce rtainly still limit th e specifi c imrulse lo less
than that of the external system.
(b) Higher mass of an internal vehicl e .
Boyer and Balcomb [76) have considered the optimisa-
tion of interna l and external systems from the viewpoint of
minimising the total vehicle mass required to de liver a given
payload. This is done by a combination of minimising the
propellant load through an increase in specific impulse and
minimising the propulsion system mass. These two objectives
are contradictory, as increased impulse means a higher engine
mass because the momentum absorber mass sca les with the
energy per explosion, and so the net result of the analysis is
a specific impulse which is optimum in the sense that the
total vehicle mass is minimised.
The analysis was represented by graphs of the optimum
allo cation of vehicle mass as a function of a figure of merit ~
E
.. 10
~
"'
O.l ' -- - - -...:::.-.1._ _ _ _ _ __.__ __ _ ___,
20 Ql 10 ~
~'for ~xternal system
Fig. 5 . l~ xternal versus internal vehicle mass comparison (after Ref. 76).
(for the int ernal system) or ~'(where a dash symbol denotes
r
the external system). Larger values of~ or correspond to
lower values of vehicle mass , Mi or Mi' required to deliver
the desired payload for a given ratio of exhaust velocity to
mission velocity .
Full details of the ana lysis are given in the paper. Fig. 5
shows o ne aspect of the results. lf two values,~ and arer.
given th e n the figure allows comparison of the vehicle mass
requirements of the two co nfigurations. Equa l values of~
r
and lead to roughly equa l vehicle masses in the range
where ~ ~ l 0. For smaller equal values of~ and the exter-r
nal system is lighter.
The Boyer and Balcomb ana lysis provides a relationship
bet ween~ and r[7 6 )
wh ere Mo= payload mass, m =pulse unit mass, a= a design
parameter, and ri =impulse efficiency.
This ratio is greater than unity for any reasonabJe choice
of parameters, mainly because of the dependence on the
ratio of the payload to pulse unit mass, M0 /rri; typical values
are in the range 500-10,000. Values of m/m' are from 0.2-
1.0, as it may be possible to make pulse units smaller for an
internal design. Values of a/a' 'V l, and ri rv 1. Thus, values
of ~n 'V I 0-100.
It must be concluded, therefore, that t he minimum mass
of an external system will always be less t han for an internal
system , for t he same payload and mission. This discussion
is not intended to place fixed values on the relative merits,
but to point out that the interna l concept ha s a much lower
performance potential than an external design.
2. 5 Radiological Considerations
The use of fission or fusion exp losions to propel a vehicle
leads to a radiation enviro nment which must be taken into
acco unt both in formulating the propulsion concept and in
specific vehicle designs. In this section we restrict ourselves
287
Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bond
to discussion of so me re levant points (ass uming an e xternal
syste m).
In genera l, and ce rtainly with the use of fusion e xp losio ns,
the radiation e nvironme nt is determ ine d by the neutron
production of the exp losio n. There are se vera l areas of
co n cern [74] :
I. ne utron heating of th e pushe r p late ;
2. neutron heating and radiation da mage in t he
re mainder of the ve hicle (particularly the stored
pu lse units);
3. payload do se rates (parti cularly in t he case of a
mann ed vehicle);
4 . ne utron captme -y-ray effects (impo rtant for items
2 and 3);
5. ne utron activation levels (parti cularly from t he sta nd -
point of long-term crew doses; close ly rela te d to
ite m 4) .
T he most restri ctive limits to do se rates will. be set by t he
req uireme nt to protect a ny crew present on the vehicle.
Radiation li mits for hum an exposure were initially estab-
lishe d in o rder to avo id radiatio n burns o r ot her acute da m-
age, and later adjusted to avo id damage to the blood-form ing
organs o ver a period of years. The n a furt her redu ct io n was
made in the statistica l chan ces of long-range lifetim harmful
effects such as life-shorten ing, le ukaem ia o r ca tara ct·s, and
then reduce d again to decrease the statisti ca l chances of
co ngen ita l da mage de ve lop ing in the popu lat io n o ver many
ge neratio ns.
As an ind icatio n of t he effects of expos ure on humans we
can give so me ge neral idea of the resu lt of an acute dose
(the case where the tota l dose is give n quickly) of rad iatio n,
the case nea rest to that fo und in nu clea r pulse propu lsion. A
do se of up to 25 rem prod uces no dete ctab le clinica l effects
and pro ba bly no de layed effects. rifty rem produces slight
transient blood ch anges, but no ot her clinically detectab le
effects. De layed effects are possible b ut a se ri o us effect on
an average individua l is very imp robab le. One hun dred re m
ca uses n a usea and fatigue, with possibl ' vo mit ing a bove
125 re m. There is a marked ch ange in blood picture with
delayed reco ve ry and a shortenin g of life xpectancy.
Curre nt internationally regulated maximum permissib le
doses for occupationa l radiat io n workers arc 3 rem / l 3 weeks
(5 re m/year) for whole body or im p rtant organs (eyes,
go nads) up to 25 rem/ 13 weeks (75 re m/ year) for fee t, hand s,
etc. The limit fo r acc umulate d dose is 5 (N - 18) re m , where
N is the age of the worker, for im portant organs and 75 ( N -
18) rem for feet, han ds, etc.
The Project Orion vehicle based its requi rements for
shield ing o n an allowable propulsion radiatio n dose of 50 re m
per 111ission [ 16 , 2 1] and invo lved a shielded "powered flight
station" in which th e cre w sta ye d durin g prop ulsion perio ds
(which were envisaged as lasting from a few to 2 0 minu tes).
T herefore, due to t he gradual lowering of safe dose limits,
t he Orion shield would not be sufficie nt in a modern design.
The neutron dose (14 MeV) from a OT fusion explosion,
which will be the wo rst case as far as fuel c hoice is con cern ed,
is given by
y
Dose 'V 4.96 x I 0 11 22 rem per pulse
where y is t he pulse unit yield in kTon equivalent and Q is
the pulse unit - payloa d sepa ration dist an ce.
T hus , the re are three major way s of shielding a payload:
288
I . The pulse unit - s pacecraft co nfiguration can be
stretched o ut so that criti ca l pa rts subtend relative ly
small so lid a ngles from the explosion locatio n. This
method implies pay loa d losses du e to added st ru ct ure
and a possible pulse uni t design pro ble m unless t he
co llimatio n o f th e p ulse unit mass is ve ry goo d .
2. An ex p endab le attenuating mate rial ca n be in te rposed
be tween the explosion and the pusher p late fo r ea ch
pulse. This method implies a redu ction of th e sys te m
specific impulse directly as this ma ss is increased.
3. The use of ve hicl e structure, unu sed pul se units,
propellant , etc., together with direct shi elding of th e
pay loa d area to reduce t he dose.
T herefo re , the principal neutron atte nu ato rs for each main
co mpone nt of a t ypica l vehicle ca n be identified as fo llows:
Push er plate Th e prop ellant
The pulse unit - pushe r se paration
distan ce
S hock absorber T he a bo ve
T he pusher p late
Ma in s pa cecraft The a bove
T he shock a bso rb er
The shock a bsorbc r dim ension
Pay loa d T he a bo ve
The main spacecraft struct ure
The unused pulse units and propellant
T he main spacecraft dimension
Dedicated s hielding
For the size of fusion ex plosio ns e nv isaged in 111ore rece nt
ve hicle co ncepts it appea rs t ha t , eve n in the case of OT, t he
shielding of t he pay load will not involve a disproportio nate
amou nt of extra mass (which 111ust be regarded as a decrease
in pay load mass) in o rd e r to redu ce dose level s to acce p tab le
values.
3. MISSION CAPABILITIES OF NUCLEAR PULSED
ROCKETS
3. l Limitations of Non-Pulsed Systems
In principle there are two questio ns re leva nt to atta ining a
high exha ust velocity, or specific impulse. F irst , a h igh energy
per unit mass has to he attained. Second , a vehicle whi ch
will co pe with the mechani cal and th e rmal effect s associated
with th e high e nergy de nsity mu st be d esign ed . The energy
per unit mass (specific e ne rgy) of chem ical react io n s suita ble
for rocket propellants is~ 13 MJ kgm- 1. T he maximum
velocity t hat can be achieved from t he deposition of a give n
energy in a given mass is proportional to the sq uare root of
the energy, and if all the che mi ca l e nergy was used to accel-
erate the reaction mass, then ve locit ies "-' 5 ,000 msec- 1 could
be reached, representing an SJ of 'V 500 sec. Some complex
chemical syste ms offer up to perhaps 600 sec by di lu ti ng
th e reaction products with hydrogen gas, bu t this rep rese nts
a fundamenta l li mit based on t he specific e nergy of che mical
reactions, and real specific impulse is alwa ys impaired sig-
nifi cantly below these values.
In contrast, the specific energies of nuclear reactions are
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical Review of an Adavnced Propulsion Concept

so high t ha t design constraints will limit the performance TABLE I . Ve hicle Parameters.
before the ene rgy limit is reached . Uranium fission has
'V 7 .8 x I 0 7 MJ kgm- 1, co rresponding to a n SI 'V I. 3 x 10 6 Vehi cle Design In itial Mass Exhaust Velocity Engine Power
secs. [f a mixture of deuterium and the light isotope of (kgm) (m sec- 1) (W)
helium, 3 He, were totally fused, then the resultant energy Orion (NASA ve hi cle) 9.07 x 10 4 2.5 x L0 4 4.18 x 10 10
cou ld be used to produce an SI 'V 2.2 x l 0 6 secs. 4 4
Los Alamos 1.96 x 10 4.33 x l0 7.47 x 10!0
But, the ability of the vehicle material to withstand the
temperatures associated with the high prope ll ant v'e locity Livermore 5 x 1 o5 3.26 x 10 6 4 x 10!0
mu st also be co nsidered. If the prope llant is heated (directly Winter berg : (a) l.5 x 10 6 106 3 x 1010
or indirectly) by t he nu clear reactions and then allowed to (b) l.5 x 10 6 6 .2 x 10 4 3 x 1010
expand through a nozzle, the speci fic impulse is proportional
to the square root of the temperature. For steady-state gas-
core reactor concepts using hydrogen as a coo lant, noz zle
wall coo ling req uirements wi ll li mit the SI to 'V 2600 secs.
however, this thrusting time has little effect o n the total
Solid-core concepts are also severely limited by the temp-
jou rn ey time. For the case of Jupiter , the mission profile is
era ture limit of fuel-element materials ('V 3000 K) and
approaching a pure accel/decel mission without a coast
cou ld on ly prod uce an SI "v 950 secs.
period .
T he nuclear pulse propulsion concept provides a method
Two versio ns of the Winterberg design are prese nted. The
of sidestepping t hese lim its. The in teraction time of the pro-
first has a high mass and high ex ha ust velocity , and gives a
pella nt with the vehicle is so short that essentially no heat
pe rformance co mparable to t he Livermore design. The
transfer occurs. T he "temperat ures" in the propellant cloud
seco nd case has the same mass but the exhaust velocity is
may be 'V I 0 6 K, with correspo ndingly high material ablation
moderated by over an order of magnitude. This has the effect
rates, but as the interaction time can be as low as 'V 0.1 msec,
of greatly reducing the thrusting times, but increases the
on ly a sma ll amount of material will be lost. T his pulsed
mass ratios.
nature is therefore esse ntial to t he feasibility of the conce pt,
Several conc lusions can be drawn from t hese figures:
for if such a high temperature interaction was app lied for
any exte nd ed period the vehicle would be destroyed.
(a) fu sio n rockets are to be preferred to fission
T he use of magnetic fi eld s to shield materia ls has already
rockets;
been d iscussed, but eve n here t l1e plasma confi ne ment is not
perfect, and any high temperature neu tral particles will not
(b) light vehicles with low exha ust velocities give
be affected. In ge neral, however , magn e ti c shielding offers
t he only method of attaining SI va lu es mu ch in excess of short thrusting times
l 0 6 secs; no n-magnetic syste ms will probably be limited to
poor mass ratios.
'V l 0 4 secs.

T hese may be described as impulse limited desig ns;

3. 2 Mission Analysis of Pulsed Systems
In th is sectio n t he diffe rent designs of nuclear pulse vehicle
will be exa min ed in order to illustrate the capab ilities, and
the differen ces, of the various designs. The characteristics
of each vehicle comp leting a specific missio n wil l be dis-
cussed . It may be arg ued , fair ly, that this will bias the per-
forma nce of one ve hi cle, o r gr up of vehicles, aga in st another,
but the exercise does serve to illu st ra te so me fund amental
points concernin g the nucl ar pu lse concept.
The mission chosen is that f acceleration to, and decel-
eration from, a ve locity of I 0 5 m se<.:- 1. At Lhis ve locity
(ignoring any time taken to accelerate o r d elerate, for the
moment) Nept une co uld be reached in 'V 1.4 years with a
favourable co njun ctio n , and Ju piter cou ld be reac hed in 'V
7 3 clays.
The relevant vehicle parameters o f t he designs to be com-
pared are shown in Tab le I , and the ve lli cle capabi lities for
the chosen mission are shown in Tab le 2. From the results of
Table 2 se veral com ments on the capabilities of nuclea r pulse
rockets for fast missions to distant targe ts can be mad e. The
engine powers of the designs are a ll very similar, whether
using fission or fusion explosions .
The Orion design has a large mass and a low exha ust
velocity . This gives very short acceleration /d eceleration
times, but leads to very large mass ratios. This is the main
penalty with using fission for prop ulsion. The performance
can be compared with the Los Alamos design which has a
higher exhaust velocity and engi ne power, but a lower mass.
T he mass ratio here, while still high, is some 30 times more
favourable than Orion.
In co ntrast with this situation, the Livermore design has a
much highe r mass, but also uses a high exhaust velocity t o
give a good mass ratio at the expense of lo ng t hrustin g times.
In co mpariso n with the time take n to coast to Neptune,
(c) heavy vehicles with low exhaust velocities give
moderate thrusti ng times
mod era te mass ratios ;
(d) heavy vehicles with high exhaust velocities give
long t hrusti ng times
good mass ratios.
These may be described as power limited designs;
(e) the ability of nuclear pulse vehicles to perfo r m
fast missio ns to distant targets in the Solar Sy stem
is unrivalled by any ot her propulsio n syste m.
3. 3 Comparison of Vehicle Capabilities
Several authors have, of co urse, compared t he performance
of nuclear pulse vehicles with those of more co nventional
propulsion methods, and some of the important points of
these comparisons are summarised here.
Smith and Mead [ 94 ] have calculated the mass ratios as
a function of charac teristic velocity for single stage che mical
(SI= 426 sec) a nd nu clear pulse (SJ = 2,5 00 sec) vehicles.
T he results are shown in Fig. 6. Eve n with this co nservative
SI for the nuclear pulse vehicle, it can be seen that in order
for a chemical system to matc h the characteristic velocity
capa bility of a nuclear pulse vehicle having a mass ratio of
10 , it would have to have a mass ratio of about 700 ,000. To
give an idea of t he vehicle capa bility of the nuclear pulse
syste m, Fig. 7 shows the trip time to the outer plan ets as a
function of Ea rt h departure velocity for direct flight, for the
late 197 0s.
289
 Anthony R. Martin and A Zan Bond

1
TABLE 2. Vehicle Capabilities (Final Velocity = 10 5 m sec- )

Acceleration Mass Deceleration Mass

Vehicl e Design
Time (secs) Distance (km) Ratio Time (secs) Distan ce (km) Ratio

Orion (NASA vehicle) 6.66 x 102 1.54 x 104 54.6 12.19 2.82 x 102 298 1
Los Alamos 2.21 x 10 2 7.13 x 10 3 10.D7 22 .0 7.10 x 102 101.4
Livermore 2.01 x 106 (23 .29d) 9.64 x 107 l.03 .L.95 x 106 (2 2.57d) 9.35 x 10 7 1.06
Winterberg : (a) 2.38 x J0 6 (27.55d) l.22 x I 08 1.1 I 2.14 x 106 (24 .78d) 1.10 x 108 1.23
(b) 7 .69 x 104 (0.89d) 2.85 x I 0 6 5.0 1.54 x 104 (0.l8d) 5.7Jx 105 25. 0

300

106 ~------~----~-~-~-----,

i200 Ch12m1cot,..---
.--- ·

eiv : 1o'·m1s

Ralio ol 1n1ti a l n)OSS lo lt no l ma ss

Pay load ( kgm)

rig. 6. Chara cteristi c velocity 11ersus mass ratio , fo r nuclea r pulse

and chemical systems (after Ref. 94) .
Fig. 8. Vehicle mass comparison as a functi o n of payload, for a mis-
sion f'N of 10,000 m/sec (after Ref. 76).

12
600

10

8
400
..
.§
6
lll
>-
0
:g
a. .,..
~ E
:;:;
4
0.
,.'::

2~
200
Saturn (1977)

0 (1978)
14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Characteristic velocity (km/s )

0.1 10 100
Fig. 7. Trip times to outer planets versus charac teristi c velo city
(after Ref. 94 ). Distan ce(astron. units )

Fig. 9. Tr ip tim es to the o uter planets for a high specific impulse

Boyer and Balcomb (7 6) have compared the performance,
in terms of total initial vehicle mass require ments, for chemi-
cal , solid-core nu clear, gas-core nuclea r and nuclear pulsed
propulsion co ncepts . Some results for the payload mass
resulting for a one-way mission velocity increment of I 04 m
sec- 1 are shown in Fig. 8. Here an SI rv 1000 was assumed
for the internal vehicle and rv 3300 secs for the external
vehicle .
It was noted in Section 3. 2 that the use of long thru sting
times gave rise to the situation where a mission approached a
continuous thrust profile. The capability of such an accel/
decel profile has been assessed by the Livermore group [ 7 8)
vehicle (after Ref. 78).
for the case o f a 400 to n vehi cle, of which I 00 tons were
payload, with an SI of 5.5 x 105 secs. Th e performance for
one-way and round-trip missions is shown in Fig. 9, where it
can be see n that destinations anywhere in the Solar System
can be reached in about seven to eight months , with round
trips lasting twice as long. The SI here was characteristic of
external systems with magnetic shieJCling of the thrust
chamber.
Ruppe (95] has asse ssed t he performance of an "inter-
planetary Daedalus" vehicle , with a speed capability of

290
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical R eview of an Advanced Propulsion Concept
3,000 km/sec, to be used in four propulsion periods , i.e. he
considered the app lication to two-way accel/d ece l missi o ns.
With an SI ~ 106 m sec- 1 , this implies a mass ratio of l. 35 .
For a trip to Pluto the one-way trip time is some 95 days,
with a journey to a nea r-by plan et , e.g. Mars, taking 7 .15
days. Ruppe also looke d at whether such a vehicle might be
overdesigned for reaso nable interplan etary transportation,
and co nsid ered a scaled-down version with a speed capab ili ty
of 400 km/sec, a ma ss ratio of 1. 35, and an SI ~ 1.35 x
10 5 m sec- 1. This vehicle would reach Pluto in "' 70 0 days
and Mars in "' 40 days, i.e . a fou r year round trip to Pluto
and a quarter year round t r.ip to Mars.
He ppenhe imer [96) has looked at the applicatio n of a
106 sec SI vehi cle to interstellar missions, where the journey
times are now meas ured in hundreds of years. Proj ect
Daedalu s ( 88 1 has describe d such a ve hi cle in detail, showing
that the nu clea r pu lse concept is the only one which appears
feasible with modern-day tech no logy, o r reaso nable extra-
polation of it. The precise mi ssion was to Barna rd's Star ,
six light yea rs away, with a final velocity "' 12% of t he
speed of light , and a journey time of '"v 50 years.
In attempting to sum up the outstanding perfor mance of
nuclear pulse sy ste ms co mpare d to more co nventional pro-
pulsio n method s Dyson said (69): "The men who (worked
on Proj ect Orion) believe that it offers the best hop e, in the
long run , of a reaso nable programm e fo r exp loring space. By
'a reaso nable progra mme' they m ean a programme co mpar-
able in cost with o ur existing space programme and enorm-
ously superior in promise ." In loo kin g at mann ed planetary
missions over a deca de later , Rupp e said (95 ] : "The per-
forma nce is staggerin g, looking at pay loads, payload frac-
tion s and tri p duratio ns. Also, the ra tio of pay load to pro-
pe llant consumption is favourab le and I see no reason why
the vehicle sho uld not be re-usable afte r refue lling - ind eed ,
here is the ve hicle we arc waiting fo r! "
4. THE ORJGIN AL CONCEPT - EVERETT AND
ULAM , 1955
"Repeated nu clear explos io ns outsid e t he body of a pro-
jectile are considered as providing means to accelerate such
objects to velocities of the order of I Q6 cm/sec. " Tl1e open-
ing word s of the abstract of a Lo s Alam os Scientifi c Labor-
atory report by Everett and Ularn in 1955 [ 3 ] set the scene
for all nuclea r pu lse rocket work to fo ll w.
T he propose d sche me involve d t he use of a series of fission
bombs ejected and detona ted at a co ns.i d ra ble dista nce
from t he ve hicle. The critical questi n abo ut such a met hod
concerned its ability to draw on t he rea l rese rves of nu clea r
power liberate d at bomb temperatur s wit houl destroy ing
the vehicle. The rocket was inte nde d Lo be lifted clea r of the
Earth's a tmosp here by a boost er rocket, thus avoidin g pro-
blems with gro und laun ch and atmospheric co nt amin ation.
T he ve hi cle was envisage d as being sau cer-shap ed, with a
diameter of about I 0 metres, sufficient to in terce pt a ll , or
mo sl, of t he exp lod ing prope llant. The final mass was 12
tonnes, covering structure, payload, instruments, propellant
storage and bo mb storage. The initial vehicle ma s exceeds
this value by the mass of the bombs and prope llant.
The ex plosive charges, with a mass "v 500 kgm (including
tamper and e xplosive) with a re latively small yield, were
ejected a t in tervals"' 1 sec from t he base of the rocket, and
were de to nated at a distance of so me 50 metres. Synchronised
with this, disk-shaped masses of prope llant were ejected in
such a way that the rocket-p ropellant distance was "' I 0
metres at the instant t hat the exp loding charge hits it. The
propellant was raise d to high tempera ture and, in ex panding,
transmitted momentum to the vehicle. The final velocity
was attained after '\I 50 such explosions.
The bombs were structured, in that a suitable distribution
of the mass of t he tampe r surrounding the core of the born b
was made , so t hat a larger fraction of the mass of the bomb
hit the prop ella nt than predicted by so lid angle considera-
tio ns. Th e e nergy o f th e bomb was ass ume d to be distribute d
uniformly , however. The yield of the bombs was"' 1.5 kTon
in the maximum case, and 30 tons as a minimum.
A hydride composit io n was e nvisaged in order to red uce
the waste of fi ssio na bl e material associated with !ow-yield
bombs. T he bomb yields co uld be made considerab ly greater
without mu ch increase in their weight and so a n increase in
the ar bitrary mass of 12 tonnes, with a proportional increase
in propellant mass, would be very advantageous. In addition ,
the requirem e nt fo r detonation by a stro ng neutron so urce
was added, to avoid the proble ms of premature explo sio n of
a bomb by the neutron flux from a previously detonated
bo mb.
Ca lculations were presented for the perfo rm ance of the
vehicle under th e assumptions of (a) constant acceleration,
and (b) co nsta nt mass, with the results being presented in
tabular form. Some representative data are shown in Table 3.
It can be note d that in order for the constant mass method
to duplicate the perform ance of a given rocket of constant
acceleration , requires acceleratio ns which average out at the
co nsta nt value , and therefore individually exceed this value
in the final stage. Some results of the Everett and Ulam
ana ly sis as applied to case (a) for constant acceleration are
shown in Fig. I 0. Here it can be seen that the explosive
yield of successive charges and the specific impulse of the
vehicle decrease stea dily, in order to maintain a consta nt
acceleration as the ve hicle becomes lighter as a result of the
expend it ure o f propellant.
The vehicle accelerations, up to 5 0,000 g in the worst
case, were very large and would lea d to over-stress and break-
age of the structure unless the accelerntions we re uniform
over the entire struct ure.
In the vehicle design the base of the rocke t was in the
proximity of a very hot gas for a duration of about I msec,
periodica lly at 1 sec intervals. The e ffects of such a variable
wall tempe rature cycle cou ld be severe. T he propellant
co uld be made of a solid material fabrica ted in sheets and
placed at the botto m of t he vehicle , to be detached one by
on e and expelled to the desired distance . This would have
the advantage that the problem of h eating of t he permanent
structure would be atte nuated, with o nly a small fraction of
each propellant sheet being Jost by evaporation a nd melting.
An alternative idea was to use a suffi ciently powerful
magnetic field to shield the base of the rocket by deflecting
the ionised propellant gas before it actually reached the
rocket, thus avoiding base heating and gaining a factor o n
momentum tran sfer. It was noted that the field strength
1.5 2100
2000
c
0
:: 10 1900 3
u
"'"'
~
"
·;;::. 1600 -~
"'>
"iii
.!,!
·c;
~ 0 5 1700 "'
.ll-
w
1600
1500
30
Pul~~r
Fig. 10. Explosive yield and specific impulse as a funct ion of pulse
number, for the Eve rett and Ulam analysis.
291
Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bond

TABLE J. Performan ce of Ev eret! and Ulam (1955) D esign.

Constant
Acceleration Consta.n t Mass
Parameter
(a) (b) (a) (b)
rinal velocity (msec- 1) l.2 x 10 4
l.2 x J 04 l.l 2 x l 04 l. 28 x l 04
Initial mass (tonnes) 53 356 57 342
Final mass (tonnes) 12 12 12 12
Number of bombs 30 100 30 100
Fra ctio n of bomb hittin g
propellant 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
Mass ratio 4.4 29.7 4.75 28.5
Total bomb mass (tonnes) 15 30 15 30
Total propellant mass
(tonnes) 26 314 30 300
Energy of 1st bomb (J) 6.71 x 10 12 5.98 x l 0 12 2.5xJ0 12 1.5 x 10 12
Energy of Nth bomb (J) 1.15 x 10 12 1.28 x 10 11 2.5 x 10 12 l.5x10 12
Acceleration or each stage (g) 5.1 x 104 5.1 x 10 3 1.92 x 104 (1st) 1.46 x l 0 3
8.85x10 4 (Nth) 4.12x104
Du.ration of acce leratio n
(msec) 0.8 2.4 1.0 2.5

required may be impractically large, but the poss.ibility was
mentioned of the "formation of a powerful plasma current
at the base of the rocket and a pinch effect, which may mean
that the magnetic field becomes compressed to a smaller
volume aJJd the magnetic pressure considerably in creased."
A postscript to the Everett-Ulam st udy of 1955 was the
app lication made by the US Atomic Energy Commission for
a patent on a "nuclear propelled vehicle, such as a ro cket."
Application was made in the USA on 3 March , l 959 and a
British Patent was granted in late 196 1 [ 4]. The preamble
to the specification was worded in an a lmost id e ntical man-
ner to certain passages in the Evere tt-Ulam report , and the
patent then went on to describe som e mechanical details of
the vehicle, with three accompanying figures. The bomb
sizes, detonation distances and ve hicle mass were also the
same as in the Everett-U lam study . A description of a possible
method of bomb and propellant injection , using pneumatic
actuators to release the bombs down rails running along the
axis of the vehicle with flexible steel cables attac hing the
bomb to its propellant sheets, was given in some detail.
5. INTERNAL SYSTEMS - COLE, 1959-1961
The possibility of using an internal system for propelling
space veh.icles, rather than the externa l type of system, will
be discussed first in this review , a lthough chrono logically
the Orion study preceded consideration of the internal sys-
tem by a few years. Although discussed briefly in classified
reports, the first generally available presentation of t he con-
cept was due to Co le of the Martin Company, Denver (6-8].
He discussed three types of nuclear pulse rockets - a h.ighly
conservative design based o n state-of-the-art capabi lities, a
design base d on a 10-2 0 year extrapolation, a nd a design for
a "nuclear pulse jet" wh.ich took off from the surface of the
Earth.
The study emphasised the estimation of vehicle (and in
particular exp losive charge and propellant) costs, and costs
of unit payload weight. These figures will not be discussed
here, as the assumptions and approximations made to calcu-
late the m are no longer valid. Emphasis will rather be placed
on the details of the designs of the vehicles, and some rele-
vant parameters are shown in Table 4.
As noted, Model I was a conservative design of vehicle,
using 0.01 kT nuclear explosives and water as propellant,
this being pumped through the chamber walls to provide
transpiration cooling. It was noted that several other pro-
pellant introduction methods might be superior, e.g. propel-
lant introduction before bomb ignition, introduction as a
bomb covering, and coating of the inside of the chamber
walls to provide ablative protection.
The tl1rust chambe r design was based on sca led figures
from bomb tests, together with a safety factor, estimated
to be 20, in the thrust chamber weight. This resulted in a
chamber diameter of 39.6 111, constructed from 12 .7 mm
steel with a total weight of 2.2 x I 0 6 kgm.
The pulse frequency was to be adjusted according to the
appli cation of the veh.icle , or phase of the mission. For
example, at a rate of one explosion per second a thrust-to-
weight ratio of 0.25 resulted, the level required for landing
and take-off manoeuvres on the Moon. At a rate of one
exp losion per minute, the acceleration of the vehicle was
3.7 x 1o- 3 g, on average, higher t han ion and plasma engines.
At this level acceleration to a mission velocity of 8 x l 04 m
sec- 1 would take 61 hours, and a journey to Mars would
take 'V 4 months (assuming atmospheric braking and the use
of all the propellant, i.e. the availability of water for refue ll-
ing at Mars).
The basic difference between this design and the Model II
design was that the safety factor in the thrust chamber
weight was reduced from 20 to 4 . This reduced the weight
of the thrust chamber to 4.4 x 10 5 kgm and optimisation of
the vehicle with respect to minimisation of propellant cost
per unit mass of payload led to the performance data shown
in Table 4.
Model IIA was the same as Model II , except that it was a
scaled up version to use 0.1 kT born bs. The weight of the
chamber was increased by this same factor of l 0 and the
diameter was increased by the cube root of I 0. Again opti-
misation in terms of cost per unit mass gave the performance
data of Table 4.
Little interest wa s shown in the internal nu clear pulse
concept at this time, however. Project Orion was an on-
going project and this system, together with several other
advanced concepts , promised as good or better performance
at a lower cost and level of effort . Also, some of the dis-
advantages of the internal system (Section 2.4) were begin-
ning to be appreciated, and added to the reasons for the lack
of interest.

292
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical R eview of an Advanced Propulsion Concept

TA BlE 4. Cole Vehicle Param eters.

MODEL
Parameter
II II A
Rocket chamber diameter (m) 39.6 39 .6 85.9
Cha mber wall thi ckness (mm) l2.7 10.2 12.7
Rocket chamber we ight (kgm) 2.2 x 106 4.4 x 105 4.4 x J 06
Expellant (water) we ight (kgm) 4.5 x 10 6 7 .1 x 106 7 . L x 107
Payload weight (kgm) 7.7 x 10 5 6.4 x 10 6 6.4 x 10 7
Total vehicle weight (kg m) 7.8 x 10 6 1.5 .x 10 7 1.5 x 108
Tota l ve hicle length ( m) 91.4 91.4 110.0
Energy per bomb (J) 4.2 x 10 10 4.2 x 10 10 4.2xl0 11
Exp losion in te rval (sec)
Number of exp losions 2,400 5,800 5 ,800
Average thrust (N) 3.5 x 10 7 9.3 x 10 7
9.3x108
Specifi c impulse (sec) l,J so 1,1 50 1,1 so

6. THE HELIOS CONCEPT - LIVERMORE, mission velocity increments. The advanlages given by Lhis
1963-.1965 performance over these ot her propulsion sche mes did not
appear to be great fo r the range of missions currently in t he
Several years after o le's st udy, re newed interest was shown planning and proposed stages, such as a manned Mars landing
in the co n ta ine d nucl ea r pulse e ngine as a result of changes mission. What adva ntages were prese nt ed wo uld req uire
in severa l co nditio ns which affect the merit of th e con cept. substantia l advan ces in the design, especially in suppression
These were a shift to co nsi de rati o n of more a mbitious space of heat deposition in the containment vessel where calcula-
missions req uiring a high spec ific impu lse, Lhe increased tio ns had indicated that t he surface temperatures nea r the
"a vai labilit y" of fissio nable ma teria 1 thus reducing es ti mated nozzle co uld reac h 4000 K, which is too high eve n for
fuel costs, and the fact that ol her advanced propulsion con- ad van ce d materi als, and therefore required so me form of
cepts showing better performance wilh compa rable o r lesser protection .
difficulty of ac hievement were nol as p le ntiful as had been
ini tia lly expected. TABLE 5. Helios Vehicle Parameters.
With this bac kground th e Nuclea r Propu lsio n Division at
Law re nce Livermore Laboratory und crto k a st udy to gai n Energy per explosion 2 x 10 101
an understanding in pri n ciple of the interna l syste m in order Exp losion repetition rate 0.1 per sec
to identify t he major problems, to define optimum systems ,
and to make an overa ll appraisa l of .ils va lu e. The project was Pulse unit ma ss 32 kgm (including 9 kgm a uxiliary
given the na me Helios [ 9- 14 ] . ma ss)
T he sca le of the vehicle e nvis·1ge d was ne wilh a co ntain- Number of pulses 'V 4,000
ment vesse l 'V 10 metres d iameter. Small nue l ar exp losive Propellant mass (hydroge n) 70 kgm
charges with a yield of 2 x 10 10 Joules wou Jd be placed in
Thrust 9 x 106 N
this cha m ber together with 'V 70 kgm of hydrogen. The fir-
ing of the charges, at intervals of 10 se s or lo nger, brought Pressure vessel rad ius 4.6m
t he hydrogen to a high tempe rat ure and iL was then released Pressure vessel mass 9 x 104 kgm
through a nozzle to produce thrnst. So me v · hic le parameters
Total ini tial vehicle mass 7 x 10 5 kgm
are show n in Table S.
Analytical studies of techn ica l prob lems which appeared Payload 4.5 x L04 kgm
the most fundamental to the Helios scheme w r pursued,
with th e main areas of in vestigat io n being in exp losion
10'.- - - - - - -
hyd rodynamics, heat t ransfe r to the vesse l wall s, pulsed pro-
pellant discharge be haviour, nozz le design , and in e ngine-
vehicle co upling proble ms. Effort was also devoted Lo an
experimenta l study of layered structural materials which
may have been suita bl.e for the pressure walls of the co ntai n-
i.
ment vesse l, based upon 6-p ly layer ing of 18% Ni maraging
steel and of T i-5 Al -2 .5 Sn tita nium alloy.
.
0
E s
"10
rt was found that no fun damenta l fau lt existed in Lhe .!!
co ncept, alt ho ugh many of the processes invo lve d were not 'i
full y understood. However , several reservations were noted .
The practicality of the concept would de pend criti ca lly
on the avai labil ity of a suitable nuclear charge, especiall y
with respect to reliability , since an accide nta l excess y ield or
fragmented explo sion co uld destroy the pressure vessel.
T he e ngineering problems involved in reaching a workable Totol 1nit10! rno s s (kgm)
design would be as severe as in most other advanced propul-
sio n sche mes discussed at the ti me. The perfo rm ance of a Fig. 11. Helios payload versus total initial mass for various missio n
Helios-type ve hicle is show n in Fig. 11 , for a range of ideal idea l velocities {<tfter Ref. 13).

293
 Anthony R . Martin and A lan B ond
It wa s commented that unpre dictable advan ces in a large
number of areas cou ld change th is pessimism , especia ll y for
very large payloads and high missio n ideal velocities which
stood most in need of high-specific-impulse systems. T he
ach ievem e nt of a very high stre ngt h-to-weigh t ratio co ntain-
me nt vessel, of very lightweight nuclear charges, or of strik-
ing adva nces in surfa ce th erma l pro tectio n co u.ld lea d to a
sharp rise in the competitive position of the Helios system .
Ho wever, it was co ncluded that the develop ment of
Helios with a view even towards de tailed design studies would
be inapp ropr iate at th at time, and the last work to elate to
con ce ntrate specifi ca ll y on the interna l nu clea r pulse syst em
was brought to a close.
7. LARGE SCALE STUDI ES - PROJECT ORION,
1957-1965
The work carried out o n the nuclear pul se propulsion co n-
cept under Proj ec t Orion, by t he Gene ral Atomic Divi sio n
of Ge ne ral Dynamics in San Diego, Califo rnia, represe nts
the most determine d e ffo rt known to have bee n made to
date to use t he concept as a practi ca l p ropu lsio n system. For
thi s reaso n , the discussion of Orion , its capabilities and t he
work that was carried o ut must fo rm the largest section in
this revi ew.
Unfortun ately , repo rts on Orio n are diffi cult to obta in .
The references list all the so urces we have tra ce d . Some
report s written by General Atomic staff describe the proj ect
in ge nera l [1 5-23] and a numbe r o fr eportsa reava il ab leo n
detailed areas of t he study [24-5 1] . Comp lete syste m data
ca n o nly be obtained, at the tim e of writing, tluou gh t he use
of indirect refere nce material [ 52-6 0] , press releases con-
te mporar y with the project [6 1-69 ] , and the report ing of
comments made by peo ple involved in the proj ect [e.g. 59,
60, 69 ] .
7. I Project History
The origins of Orion bega n soo n after 4 October 1957 , when
th e launc hing of Sputnik I provoked T heodore B.Tay lor,
former ly an ato mi c bo mb designe r at Los Alamos but then
wi t h Ge neral Atomic, to seek a prop ulsio n system using
nu clea r pow er which would rega in Americ<rn prestige in
space. The project e nded in 1965 a nd t he history of those
seven years of ·e ffort is not easy to assemb le. Po litical con-
siderat ions, group rivalries, perso nali ties and co ntinuing
classificat io n of material all co mbin e to make the history
somewhat con te nt ious. What fo llo ws is o ur atte m pt, co m-
piled from contemporary un classifie d material, to chart the
progress of Orio n during t hose yea rs.
Taylor had e ncountere d the nuclea r pulse rocket co ncept
at Los Ala mo s, where it was first proposed by Ulam, as
re lated in Section 4 above. Tay lor, ho weve r, with his bac k-
gro und as a weapons designer , was a ble to propose a system
in whi ch the propellan t mass was incorporate d along with
a "shape d nuclear charge" in simple "p ulse units", rather
than the so mewhat clumsy system in the original proposa l.
F un ding for the work ca me init ially from Ge neral Atomic
the mselves, as Ge neral Atomic Proj ect Numbe r 52, under
the title Nuclea r/Che mical Pulse Rea ction Co ncept , a nd later
Nu clear Pulse Prop ulsion Concept. Co nsidering the potentia l
performance which the concept offered it is, in retrospect,
surprising that Orion had such a diffi cult and short career.
Financial support was a lways provided grudgingly by Govern-
ment bodies and there is little doubt that without the per-
sonal e ndeavours of the proj ect adm inistrators t he proj ect
would have had a shorter lifetime than it act ually did. In the
event , "the level of scie ntifi c and engineering tale nt devoted
to it was, for a classifi ed proje ct, unusually high" and "it
held together. ... a band of talented and devote d men and
294
produ ced .... a vo lume of scientific and e nginee ring work
which in breadth and thoro ughness has ra re ly bee n
equalled." [6 9 ] .
In April 1958 Taylor gave a prese ntation of the con cept
to Roy Johnson , the Chief of the Advanced Research Projects
Agen cy (ARP A) of the De partme nt of Defense. The follow-
ing July , after a good dea l of nego tiation , an award of one
million dollars was made to co ver the subseque nt 10 mo nths'
work . So me initial re ticence was prese nt on behalf of the
Department of Defense in esta blishing a private team of
weapon eers at Genera l Atomic , but this did not appea r to
hinder the proj ect after its in ce ptio n.
Shortly after t he start of the project, NASA was formed
and took ove r all the civil space projects funded by ARPA .
At the sa me tim e the USAF laid claim to a ll the military
projects and Orion re main ed the o nly major project under
ARPA charge, as neither NASA nor t he Air Force regarded
it as a valua ble asset. Taylor's e fforts to interest NAS A at
this stage fa iled, a fact whi ch is diffi cult to understan d in
the light of the gro wing intention to go to the Moo n.
At t he e nd of 1958 a n a ward of $400,000 was made to
the project and t he fo llowi ng August a furth er o ne million
dollars was placed at Orion 's disposal to cove r th e following
year's work. The team grew to abo ut 40 membe rs, with t he
overa ll proj ect responsibility fa lling to Fre deric de Hoffmann ,
hea d of the Genera l Atomic Division of General Dy namics.
Taylor was appoin ted p roject director and Jim Na nce assist-
ant di rector (Nance later took over as director when Tay lor
left the project in 1963).
During 1959 fli ght test mo dels were flown using high
ex plo sive charges. These ve hi cles reached altit udes of up to
60 metres and were a ble to sho w the fea sibility of the pulse
propulsio n concept. This programm e was known by the
unoffi cial, but apt, name of "Project Put-Put".
In early 196 0, government respo nsibi lity for the project
was t ran sferred to t he Air Force and Orion beca me essenti-
ally a military project. (Various contract numbe rs were used
for Orio n: AF 18(6 00)-1 8 12 for I 958-59, AF29(6 01 )-2 207
for 1960-63 and AF29(6 0 I )-62 14 for 1964-65) . Dr. Herbert
York, Defense Directo r o f Researc h and Engineering at
ARPA, said the major co ncern over the progra mm e Jay in
the future funding level. About $900,000 in supplemental
funding for F isca l Yea r I 96 0 was considered, but rejected
beca use ARPA did no t have t he reso urces to carry on the
programme at the in crea sed leve l. An attempt was made to
transfer the proj ect to NAS A, rathe r than the Air Force, but
th is was unsuccessful. NASA associa te a dministrato r, Ric hard
E. Horner, sa id that a lt ho ugh the proj ect "em braces a ve ry
interesti ng theoret ical concept , it appea rs to suffer from
such major research and developm e nt proble ms that it
wo uld not successfully co mpete for support in co ntext of
our e ntire space ex perime ntal programme." A1so, he raised
a cri ticism that was to be o ne of t he reaso ns for the eventual
de mise of the proj ect , saying "Among other un certai nties the
question of politi ca l approval fo r ever using such a dev ice
seems to weigh heavily in balance aga inst it ."
By August 196 0 a total of $ 2 .4M ha d bee n spent by
government so urces, together with Ge neral Atomic's initial
contribu t io n, and the level of funding was increased to
$1.7M per year.
In 196 1 Taylor took film of Project Put-Put tests a nd
technical details of t he co ncept to Werner von Braun at
Huntsville. Although he o bta in ed von Braun's perso nal sup-
port for the proj ect, NASA st ill co uld not be persuaded to
contr ibute to t he funding.
Also ear ly in 196 1 an ad hoc commit tee o n Space headed
by Jerome Wiesne r, President Kennedy's special advisor on
scie nce, co nsid ered the proj ect in the co ntext of overa ll US
space policy. They state d that "Above all we must encourage
entirely new ideas which might lead to real brea kthroughs.
One such idea is the Orion proposal.. .. This proposal should
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical Review of an Advanced Propulsion Concept
receive careful study with a realisation of the international
problems associated with such a venture." This contrasted
strongly with the NASA view of a year ear lier.
At Utis time effort on Orion was split about half and half
between theoretical and practical work. The latter was mainly
directed towards t he development of suitable pusher plate
designs, capa ble of resisting thermal and mechanical shock
loads produced by eac h pulse, arrangements of in!itruments
and shie lding problems.
By l 963 funding for Orion was be co ming difficult to
maintain, with the USAF finding difficulty in justifyi11g the
vehicle on strict ly military groUJ1ds, and attempts being mad e
to curtail USAF e ffo rts in intensive spa ce hardware develop-
ment. A comment made at the time re flected this; "We tried
to have a reasonable development schedule worked up an d
used as a De partment of Defense guid eline, but since it
would have included flight dates and required a stated mis-
sion, we were told to forget it and cont inue working at our
present pace on our present budget. We we re also denied
permission to set up some experiments at the current Opera-
tion Dominic nu clea r weapon s te sts in the Pacifi c."
The USAF vehicle was seen to be a space battlesl1ip, ab le
to withstand one Megaton e xp losions at a range of 150
metres and armed with shaped atomic charges for destroy-
ing en e my missiles. It was obviously far more soph isticated
and advanced than the USAF required and th is led to NASA
once again be ing approached for support. NASA was never
very e nthusiasti c about Orion, but in June I 963 awarded a
study contra ct to Genera l Atomic to assess the fast mission
potential offered by Orion for planetary operations to Venus,
Mars, Jupiter and the moon s of the latter two bodies, in th e
197 5- 1995 ti me scale.
It was con sid ered esse ntial at t hat time to examine the
potential of an Orion vehicle sca led down from th e USAF
concept , especia lly as the syste m appeared able to produce
a quantum jump in the sta te of the art , with specific
impulses of up to I 00,000 seconds being p ssiblc. Howeve r,
it was not c lear whethe r an advan ce of this mag ni t ude would
be ne cessary for the fast manned missio ns be ing contem-
plated , where th e propulsio n capabili ty of Ro ver or NERVA
may have been suffi c ient.
Although these con ce pls n vc r o ffe red the ca pa bility of
Orion they becam e the favoured sysle 111 . In January 1965 a
last bid to obtain NASA funds for th e projec t was made .
Continuatio n of Orion as a tec hnology proj ect and not a
development programme was prop scd , " l ri.:ally nail the
technology down and then sec if Ori o n still mcrile d be ing
carried into the programm e de finition stag· and la te r, po s-
sibly into an actual development effort. " II wevcr, the
Departme nt of Defense felt it could not affo rd lo co ntinue
supporting the effort unilaterally and sugges ted a joint pro-
ject betwee n NASA and the Atomic En ergy om missio n
(A EC). The work proposed was a two yea r programme,
including three underground nuclear tests, co sting six million
dollars per year, jointly fund ed by DOD, AEC and NASA.
The AEC was willing to become invo lved in the pr gramme
but NASA headquarters refused to go along with the pro-
posal on the grounds that there was no money avail.able lo
support work on a system for which it had no mission .
Thus, on l May 1965, Project Orion ended. It was esti-
mate d that .$ 10.5 M of government funds and .$1 M of e ncral
Atomic's money had been spent on the programme over its
seven year life.
Apart from the problems of defining a mission and com-
petition from NER VA, a further serious political difficulty
hampered the project. This was caused by the wording of the
nuclear test ban treaty which was signed in April 1963 . This
treaty places strict limits on atmospheric testing of nuclear
explosions, although it was never intended to limit the
application of nuclear energy to uses such as Orion. It was,
apparently, readily shown that t he fall-o ut fro111 an Orion
gro und launch would be very sma ll an d at an acceptable
]eve.I. However, the wording of the treaty remains, as does
political opposition to nuclear exp lo sio ns, and both would
have to change before such a vehicle could ever be tested or
flown.
7. 2 Vehicle Description
An illustration of the main features of an Orion vehicle are
shown in Fig. 12, where a model of the vehicle and schematic
key to the components are given. Fig. 13 shows an artist's
impression of the vehicle during flight.
The propulsion system was very simple in concept and
not o rigin al to the Orion project, as we have seen above.
Essentially , a nuclear explosion was to be produced under-
neath the vehicle, some of the expanding debris of which
would be intercepted by the base of the vehi.cle , thereby
transferring momentum to it from the explosio n products.
The expansion velocity of an atomic explosion may be in
excess of I 06 m sec- 1 and if t his co uld be direct ed and inter-
cepted efficiently an effect ive ex haust velocity approaching
this figure should be possible. (This is equivale nt to a specific
impulse of I 05 secs, a value ofte n quoted in the Orion
literature [ 16, 64] .) For economic reasons it is better to
reduce the expansion velocity of the explosion by loading
the pulse unit with a cheap propellant, which in creases the
ve hicle thrust at the expe nse of a higher laun ch mass. From
the Orion literature it appears that Polyethylene was prob-
a bly the material emp loyed in the studies.
Thus, effective exhaust velocities of 25 ,000-60,000 m sec- 1
were ge nerally considered. For t hese values an interact ion
time of the expanding plasma debris and vehicle of "a milli~
se.co nd or less" was quoted [ 19], and he nce for a vehicle
carrying rv 2,000 charges, a total interaction time for all
propulsive phases of the order of a second was anticipated.
Such a very short interaction period and high momentum
transfer would result in excessive shock loading of the
vehicle and so a special 'pusher' mounted onto the vehicle
by shock absorbers was designed. The object of this was that
t he exp los ion set the pusher into instantaneous motion ,
which was then slowed by the shock absorbers and returned
to its starting point ready for the next pulse. Thus the
vehicle proper experienced only t he mi ld , smoothed out
accelerat io ns transmitted by the shock absorber system.
The pus her was subj ect to simultaneo us thermal (gas
temperature nexl to surface rv 8 0,000 K) and shock lo ading
and represented a major design and development task for
the project. Test equipment was devised (Section 7.4) and
also extensive stress and thermal analyses were carried out
on the problem. The Orion team claimed that engineering
so lutions existed to all the difficulties involved in building
this key hardware item. For example, in early tests on
pusher p late materials steel, wood and aluminium were tried .
However, it was found that a thin coat (i.e. a bout 25 µm) of
silicone grease on an aluminium pusher plate could effectively
reduce the pusher ablation to zero. (It is interesting to note
that Taylor claims this was found o ut by accident [ 59]
when a technician's thumb print survived intact after an
ab lation test !) Several General Atom ic papers are declassi-
fi ed on this work (37, 38 ] . Taylor (59] also stated that
correct shaping of the pusher plate thickness was required
to prevent the plate being destroyed by mechanical shock
waves. Such a plate tapered in thickness, becoming thinner
towards the edge. Again, tests with high explosives co n-
firmed that such shaped pushers survived very well.
For the shock absorber system a set of pneumatic devices
was employed. It was essentially in two parts. Immediately
adjacent to the pusher were a series of toroidal gas filled
bags, which were to absorb the momentum in the initial
stages and correct for off axis deton atio ns. These transmitted
the momentum to the main transfer syste m consisting of
295
Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bond

Powered flight crew

station (shielded)

Crew accommodation
r
Crew
module

-~ Propellant

-~T""
Basic structure
including pulse-unit
delivery system

Secondary
shock absorber Basic
nuclear
pulse
Primary propulsion
shoe k absorber module

Pusher
plate -------~

~~~~~~n~ath~
j
Standoff
distance
Ejected pulse -unit - - - - -....

Point of I
detonation ..+ - - - - - ---''---
Fig. 12. Model of the Orion vehicle and a schematic key to the main compo nents (after Ref. 20).

telescopic pneumatic pistons. The natural period of this

Fig. 13. Artist's impression of the Orion vehicle in flight.
second system was about an order of magnitude lo nger than
that of the first system.
Immediately following a detonation, the whole pusher
would move towards the vehicle, its kinetic energy grad ually
being stored as potential energy in the shock absorbers. After
relative motion between the pusher and vehicle had been
arrested , the motion was reversed and the pusher arrived at
its starting point with its velocity reversed. However, the
next detonation reverses this motion in turn, and the cycle
repeats. Damping of the pusher motion would be impractical
due to the very high powers to be dissipated in the dampers.
Thus, a harmonic system was chosen. Details of the shock
absorber design ana lysis can be found in Boyer and Balcomb
[76].
The remaining main system components are the magazine·
rack and pulse unit feed system, which Taylor claims they
designed after consulting a company who built Coca-Cola
dispensing machiJ1es; the charge injection system which,
again accord mg to Taylor, was achieved by means of com-
pressed nitrogen which propelled the charge through a hole
ill the centre of the pusher plate; a low-thrust attitude control
system, which in the NASA vehicle was a chemical system;
and finally the nuclear charges themselves.
The nuclear charges were mostly based on conventional
atomic weapons technology, although by using shaped charges
the fraction of debris intercepted by the pusher co uld be
increased almost to 0.5. This would be achieved by placing
the propellant in such a way that the momentum was
essentially directed axially, even though the energy deposi-
tion would probably be almost isotropic. The use of thermo-
nuclear fusion charges was hinted at in Ref. 16, although no

296
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical R eview of an Advanced Propulsion Concept
serious considerat ion seems to have been expe nded on this
alternative during Orion. (Alt hough not in the Orion study ,
another comment on the constru ction of possi ble nuclear
charges for pulse rocket app licat io n is found in the Everett
and Ulam report [3 ], where the pulse unit is estimated to
be a minimum of 500 kgm mass and where the use of a
hydride composition to reduce the quantity of fissile
material em ploy ed in their construction is sugges\ed.)
7. 3 Performance Capabilities
It is well-known that during its lifetime Project Orion studied
the performance and ap plication of a wide range of sizes of
nuclear pulse propelled vehicles. Un fortunately first-hand
detailed informa tio n about these studies is not readily avail-
a bl e due to its contin ued security classification . In the main ,
we are constrai ned to technical journalistic writings which
were co ntemporary with the project and were based on
interviews with people who had some authorised co nt act
with it. A valuable source of informat ion is also to be fo und
in the cont inued enthusiasm of two key members of the
Orion team, namely Theodore Taylor and F ree man Dyson,
who period ically give tantalising hints of the enormous
propulsion potential which they established over the severa l
years of intensive study of the externa l nuclear pulse concept.
Thus, of necess ity much of this sectio n of this review must
remain imprecise and subj ect to the present aut hors' inter-
pretation of the evide nce.
Fortunately , however, fo llowing the growt h of NASA's
interest in mid-1963 work was carried o ut on a vehicle design
specifica lly to NASA requireme nts under contract number
N AS8- l l 05 3, and subsequently a great deal of this vehicle
de sign was declassified and published .in several reports, two
of which [ 16 , 21] contain almost all the reliable detailed
data available on Orion type ve hicle systems and their per-
formance. We sh.a ll therefo re consider this veruc le in detail
first.
Apart from its be.ing the most detailed information avail-
able, there is a further advantage to th is starting point in that
it was pointed out by the Orion tea 111 that this vehicle was
scaled clown from larger ve hicles and that its performance
was adverse ly affected by its sma lle r size. We may therefore
_co nclude that this vehklc represe nts t he lowe r encl of t he
spectrum in both scale and performance for the external
nuclear pulse rocket and that far superior results cou ld be
achieve d.
7. 3. 1 Th e NASA Vehicle
The vehicle studied for NASA essent ially involved a singl e
basic 'propulsion modu le' which included "all pulse unit
handling and delivery apparatus, engine control.s, at1xiliary
subsystems and .... some internal capacity for propellant."
The module was l 0 min di ameter, 2 1 m long, a nd designed
to be compatible with the two stage variant of Saturn V,
which at that time was envisaged as t he main workhorse
through the 1970s and into the 1980s. In order to reduce
contamination and e nvi ronmental effects, the nu clear stage
was mainly studied in an orbital ignition role, having been
assemb led from the propulsion module , payload a nd pu lse
units in orbit fo llowing successfu l rendezvous of severa l (up
to eigh t) Saturn V launches. The basic propu lsion module
mass was about 91 tonnes (200 ,000 lbs) but at the time of
orbital ignition the stage would have a total mass of up to
1143 tonnes for missions to Mars including a 20 man crew
and 150 tonnes of destination payload.
Apart from missions to Mars, the same module was
studied for Lunar ferry applications from low earth orbit
to Lunar orbit , carrying a pay load of 20 passengers and
200 tonnes of cargo, as well as prope llant for a chemica l
shuttle for transport to the Lunar surface.
This, in broad terms, is the scope of the NAS A study . In
detail, it was intend ed that the propulsion mod ule would
have a n effect ive ex haust velocity in the range 18,000 to
25,000 m sec- 1 with a thrust of 3.5 x 10 6 N, and t hat the
comp lete stage would have an opti mised acceleration at igni-
tion in the neighbourhood of 2.5 m/sec 2 . The insta lled mis-
sion velocity would be co ntrolled by the number of pulse
units loaded at the time of ignition, with an up per limit in
the region of 30km/sec e nvisaged . The prop ulsion module
would store about 900 pulse units interna lly and a further
1100, possibly in the extern al expendable magazines. Such a
mission velocity would allow a round trip to Mars to be
undertaken during the 198 0s with a total trip time of about
250 days.
Fo r both the Lunar missions and Mars missions it was
fou nd that the dominant cost was still the chemical propul-
sion system to low Earth orbit, this being abo ut 60% of the
total mission costs and nu clear propellant by comparison
20-30%. Two alternatives were proposed in Ref. 16 . The
first was a comp lete self-boost of the verucle to Ea rth orbit
and the seco nd was to loft the verucle chemically using the
Saturn S-IC stage and then co mplete the boost to orbit
using the pulse engine. In this latter mode the nuclear stage
would not be fully loaded during boost.
Altho ugh it is claime d that contamination during Ea rth
launch of a nuclear pulse rocket would be minimal, no
detailed analysis of the problem is available in the open
literat ure. It is unfortunate that while the above report
me ntions the alternative launch possibiliti es, it does not go
on to give mu ch further data abo ut the vehicles or t heir
launch problems , other than to quote a thrust-to-weight ratio
for the comp letely self- boosted version as I .25 and the lo ft-
ing velocity of the other alternative as being about 3000 m
sec- 1 (I 0,000 ft/sec) with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.55. It
does claim, however, that no signifi ca nt residual activity
would remain in the vehicle following propulsion phases and
that a manned approac h to the engine hardware could be
undertaken " within a short time of e ngine shutdown."
T he Mars ex plo ration vehicles all co nsisted of the same
basic modular assemb ly comprising the propulsion module,
the operatio nal payload structure which included all hard-
ware , Mars mission expend ables, two manned orbital
assembly modules, a nd finally the propellant.
T he payload would be shie lclecl with a n additionally pro-
tected powered flight area where the crew would be during
prop ulsion. The shielding was designed to allow 50 rem per
mission from propulsion, which permits a similar dose from
solar radiation for a total of about 100 rem per mission [ 2 1].
The studies encompassed missions with and without manned
Mars land·ings and with a nominal crew of eight, but with
some studies of a crew of 20.
For manned surface exp loration two vehicles wou ld be
employed, each with eight crew and 75 tonnes of destination
payload. For e mergency situations each vehicle would be
able to support a double crew comp lement for 290 days.
Each vehicle would have a mass of 7~3 tonnes at ignition.
However , if o nly a single vehicle were employed the mass
would fa ll to 74 1 tonnes clue to the reduced emergency
expendables . The same mission without a manned landi ng ,
with a crew of eight and 7 50 kg of destination payload,
would have an ignition mass of 599 tonnes.
At the other extreme of the mission spectrum is the
vehicle mentioned earlier in this section, carrying a crew of
20 and 150 tonnes of destination payload , which wou ld have
a mass of 1143 tonnes at ignition.
A mass breakdown of the eight man nominal Mars land-
ing mission is given in Table 6.
T he variation of vehicle departure mass with launch year
was analysed by the Orion team and it was found that a
Mars mission laun ched in an unfavourable year would increase
t he ignition mass by abo ut 8%, w}\ereas a fa vourable year
. 297
 Anthony R . Martin and Alan Bond
TABLE 6. Mars Landing Mission Mass Breakdown -
one vehicle , eight-man cre w, 7 5 tonne payload.
Mass (kgm)
Operational pay load 80,000
In-transit payload 1,000
Destination pay load 75 ,000
To tal pay load
Propulsion module 93,800
Propellant magazines 16 ,785
Guidance and start-up fluid s 7,235
Total "dry" ma ss
Propellant ma ss
Total orbital departure mass
could decre ase it by 15%.
The Lunar ferry vehicle design , which, as previously
stated, was also based on the 10 m diameter module was
examined o n the basis of economi cs of supply to a large
Lunar base. It was found that for a base of greater than a
hundred or so personnel, the specific maintenance costs
would be abo u t fJ?.5 x I 0 6 per man year in 196 4 dollars, at
a support level of 1800 kg ( 4000 lbs) per man year. Again ,
the cost of the chem ica l Earth launc h vehicle was dominant
amounting to 75% of the total o peratio nal costs. No very '
detailed perfo rm ance data were published on the Lun ar
ferry applica tio n.
In addition to the two applicatio ns discussed abo ve, the
Orion team pointed out that the vehicle performance using
the nuclear pulse is very depe ndent on propulsion module
si ze. Fig. 14, adap ted from Ref. 16 , shows how by goi ng to
a 20 m diame ter module t he specific impulse improves to
'V 3000 secs and the thrust to about 1. 5 x 10 7 N. T he repo rt
states that a si ngle-stage vehicle of this size o n a trip to
Jupiter with a 20 man complement and 100 tonnes of desti-
nation payload and requiring 58 km/sec mission velocity,
would have a trip duration of.900 days. A performance
potential of this magnitude is obviously impressive and
beyond any co mpetitive system. However, the report goes
on to add " Fo r the post 1980 era a specific i mpulse of
between 10,000 and 20,000 sec (exhaust velocity I 00 km/
sec) is predicted ...."
In addition to the mission s which have so far been out-
lined , Shipps [21) states that missions were exa mined for
the 10 m module which encompassed Ve nus orbital missions,
Mercurian orbital and surface missions and Jovian sate llite
orbital and surface ex plorations.
'From the foregoing it is obvious that the Orion propul-
sion system offers a unique combination of high thrust-to-
.
1
10m moduli: 20m module
.€
~~.":r-~~-'--~~~..._..._.-'-w,~o,--~-'--~-'---'---'-~--'--'-"--',~
Etlecltve thrust {N)
Fig. 14. Specific impulse versus thrust fo r 10 metre and 20 metre
Orion modules (after Ref. 16).
298
weight ratio, suffi cie nt eve n for Earth li ft-off, coupled with
a specific impulse an order of magnitude bett er t han
advanced chemical rockets. Both of the Ge nera l Atomic
reports [ l 6, 21 ] stress even further ga ins. The st udies
ass umed the use of conventional mate rials, well within the
state of the art . Also the pulse units were based o n wea pons
technology ex plosives. By goi ng to advanced materials and
shaped cha rges the propulsive capability co uld be e nhanced
signifi ca ntly and eve n the use of fusion devices may be pos-
156,000 sible.
7. 3. 2 Th e USAF Ve hicles
T urning now to a discussion of other vehicles studied by t he
Orion project, we have termed the vehicles stud ied in the first
117 ,820
five years of Orion the USAF vehi cles, sin ce it wa s mainly
467,180 US AF design requireme nts which guid ed the proj ect in this
period. Liltle firm information is available but it does see m
741 ,000 certai n that t he vehicles were intended to drive a 900 tonne
(2 x 106 lb) payload to low orbit o r to escape from an Ea rth
surface laun ch and ret urn. The article by McGuire [ 64] is
pro bab ly the best summary of the chara cteristics of this
vehicle. According to t his and other articles of the same
perio d ( 61-68] t he vehicle was propelled by s mall explosio ns
of about 0.01 kiloton yield, released fr o m the vehicle at I to
10 second intervals, and detonated between 30 and 300
metres behi nd the pusher asse mbly. The gross lau n ch weight
of the basic vehicle was quoted as 3630 tonnes (8 x 106 lb)
and the acceleratio n betwee n 2 0 and 90 m/sec 2 . These values
are suppo rted by t he introducto ry statements in Ref. 16 o n
the NASA vehicle, where it states: "earli er design studies
concentrated on vehicles of large sizes (4000 tons) and high
specifi c impulse ( 4000 to 6000 sec) that would be capa bl e
of direct lau nch from the Eart h's surfa ce or sub-orbital sta rt-
up and would have a vehicle t hru st-to-weig ht ~ 1.25 g. Such
ve hicles would have propulsion module inert weight fractions
of 0.3 to 0.4 and pulsing intervals of about l sec."
We now observe an apparent inconsistency in the i nfor-
mation . All references agree that t his vehicle used nuclea r
ex plosio ns of about 0.01 to 0. 1 kiloton yield and an exhaust
velocity of the order of 40,000 m sec- 1• It is easily shown
that the e nergy release and thrust of a rocke t e ngine are
related through the exhaust velocity by
2E
F = -
Ve
Since one kiloton is 4.2 x l 0 12 Joules, at a repetition rate of
one per seco nd the thrust would therefore be 2. 1 x I 06 N to
2.J x I 0 7 N. In order to drive a 3630 tonne vehicle at 20 m/
sec 2 acceleration we would require 7 .26 x I 0 7 N . However,
t his analysis neglects t he prese nce of the atmosp here, a sig-
nificant mass of which becomes entrained in t he explosion,
as first pointed o u t by Eve re tt and Ulam in 1955 (3]. Thus
we may deduce from the published data t hat for an Eart h
launch there is a twofold gain fro m the presen ce of the
atmosphere; firstly t he mass of the vehicle is reduced since
significant use can be m ade of extern al mass, and secondly
t he size of nuclear yield can apparently be reduced by one
or two orders of magnitude in t he lo wer atmosp here and
hence redu ce t he contamination problem . At higher altitude
we must also co nclude that the yield of t he pulse units must
approach about one kiloton if a high level of acceleration is
to be maintained. We may make so me very approx imate
esti mates of the USAF vehicle parameters, by assuming the
data in Table 7 . The time-averaged mass flow
F M.a
where M = mass , a= acceleration and ve =ex haust velo city .
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Histo rical R eview of an Advan ced Propulsion Concept
TABLE 7. Assumed USAF Vehicle Data.
Launch mass 3,63 0 to nnes
Payloa d mass l.,000 to nnes
Prop ul sio n module inert fraction 0.35
Ex haust velocity 40,000 m sec- 1
Acceleration ;:;;. 10 m/sec 2'
Exp losion repetition rate 1-0 .1 per sec
Hence, u sing Ta ble 7, rh = 907 .5 kgm/sec, but we know
the max imum pulse rate is about I sec and so each pulse unit
mu st have a mass of;:;;. 9 00 kg.
T he e nergy of each pulse un it would be a pproximately
given by
E = Yz mp uve 2
where mpu is the pulse unit mass.
F rom the ca lculated value above, E = 7 .26 x I Q11 Joules
or 0.1 7 kilotons fo r a pulse rate of 1 per sec. If the pulse rate
feU to 0.1 per sec the yield would be 1.7 kilotons. Thus we
estimate about one kiloton as sta ted ea rlier, since the a bove
estimates take no acco unt of losses which Ref. 16 implied
were co nsidera ble.
We ca n estimate t he vehicle performance to be as fo llows.
The loaded mass of the propulsion module without the
900 tonne payload would be about 2730 tonnes. Using the
inert fraction from Ta ble 7 therefore gives the propulsion
hardware as about 956 tonnes. Thus the dry mass of the
whole ve hicle would be about 1856 tonnes. The missio n
velocity is the n given by
where mi = initial mass and mf = final mass.
We obtain a mission velocity of abo ut 26.8 km/sec. This
is adequate for a controlled flight into Earth orbit an d co n-
trolled return and with co nsiderable excess manoeuvre cap-
ability.
McGuire (64) also gives detai ls of a Lunar mission vehicle
which may have e mploy ed the sam e propulsion module .
T hese data are summarised in Table 8 for convenience.
According to simple calculatio ns, escape from Earth with
so ft Lunar landing and no return req uires a miss i.o n velocity
of about 16 .0 km/sec. Assuming , t herefo re, t he USAF
vehicle quoted a bove has an exhaust velocity o f 40 km/sec
and that the quote d structure mass includ es lh e pay loa d, we
obtain vm = 16 .2 km/sec, in good agreem ent. with t he abo ve
value. If we deduct the payload mass from the structure we
obtain an inert propulsion module mass of 907 tonnes which
agrees with the earlier estimate of the propulsio.n mo dule
dry mass. From the expellant mass quoted and the number
of pulse units, we can calculate the mass of each p ulse unit
to be about 993 kgm which again agrees well with t he earlier
estimate , ass uming a one seco nd pulse rate. We summarise
TABLE 8. USAF lunar Mission f3ooster.
Struct ure ma ss 1.588 x l 06 kgm
Expellant mass 0.794 x L06 kgm
Plutonium to Earth orbit 300kgm
Plutonium for soft Lunar landing 525 kgm
(about 800
pulse units)
Payload mass 0.681 x 106 kgm
TABLE 9. USAF Orion Vehicle Param eters.
Propulsio n module dry mass 900 tonnes
Payloa d mass up to 900 to nnes
Internally stored nuclear charges up to 2,000
Mass of nuclear charges 900kgm
Charge yield (TNT eq uivalent) <I kiloton
(0.01 kiloton at low altitudes)
our best guess at the US AF vehicle in Table 9.
As ex plained in Section 7. I, the USAF vehicle was,
acco rding to McPhee (59) quoting Ted Taylor, "a space
battleship with full-blown guidance systems and directional
A-bomb explosives for bringing down missiles. It co uld run
away from an enemy or it could turn around and take what-
ever might come, prese nting its pusher plate to a nything that
ca me near it. Go ahead . Hit me. Orion co uld re sist a mega ton
exp losio n 500 fee t a way."
7. 3. 3 The Taylor Vehicle
The performance of the USAF vehicle was obviously far
sup erior t o any other space transport system proposed in
the o pen literat ure . And yet , if one examines st atements
made by Taylor an even larger vehicle was studied . Since his
is the o nly reference to this system we call this the Taylor
vehicle .
Several times Taylor ha s referred to Orio n in the open
litera ture [ 59, 60). In his description of the performance
potential he describes a vehicle of 41 m diameter (1 35 ft) by
about 50 min le ngth ('a 16 sto rey building') to be launched
from a complex of eight towers having a height of 76 m
(250 ft). The initial pulse unit would have yielded 0.1 kilotons
and the exo-atrnospheric pulse units a bout 20 kilotons. To
leave the atmosphere, fifty detonat ions would be required
with an integrated yield o f 200 kilotons. The prop ellant
would be Polyethylene. In all, a total of 2000 pulse units
would be carried . Th e shock absorbers on this vehicle would
be about 15 m long (SO ft) and the shielding between the
crew and propulsion system would have a mass of 7 5 tonnes.
The re petition rate would be about one per second to one
every 1 0 seconds, at a distance of a few hundred feet behind
the vehicle. Taylor described this vehicle with a crew of over
a hundred people for missions to the outer regions of the
Solar System in the course of a television programme which
.formed the basis of Calder's book (60]. In McPhee (59) he
also refers to outer Solar System missions in which a shirt-
sleeve environment would be maintained and equipment
would not nee d to be designed for weight economy. From
these figures i t is po ssible to make some (rather uncertain)
estimates of Taylor's vehicle.
Fro m the values of pulse unit yield quoted, this vehicle
must have a launch mass of about 40 000 tonnes or ten
times that of the USAF vehicle. If w; accep t an ;xhallst
ve locity of 60,000 m sec- 1 for this vehicle, since it is very
large and presumably at the top of the design range examined
during Orion, together with a total mission velocity of 70 km/
sec for outer Solar System exploration , we obtain a dry mass
of about 12,500 tonnes. Thus each pulse unit would have a
mass of a bout 13,800 kgm. Following calculations of the
earlier type, the yield of each unit would be about six kilo-
to ns which, allowing for inefficiency, is of the sa me scale as
Tay lor quotes.
If we again assume an inert fraction for the propulsion
mo dule of 0.3, we can calculate the total propellant and
module mass to be about 39,000 tonnes, suggesting a pay-
load in the region of about I 000 tonnes. This is presumably
of the correct order, although in Ref. 54 Taylor implies even
299
Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bond
TABL E 10. Approximate Param eters for Taylo r's Ve hicle.
Pay load mass l ,000 tonnes
Launch mass 40,000 to nnes
Propulsion module dry mass I l ,500 to nnes
In terna ll y stored charges 2,000
Ma ss o f charges 13,800 kgrn
Charge yie ld (TNT eq uivale nt) ~ 20 kilotons
(0. 1 kiloton at low altit udes)
greater payloads when he refe rs to "a practical method for
tran spo rtin g payloads ranging from tens of tons to many
thou san ds of to ns or more throughout the Solar System."
It is, however, un clear whether any substa ntial study was
ca rried out at this higher end of the sca le. One should re ca ll
that Orion was initiated by Taylo r and that his sta te me nts
proba bly do reflect the real performance potential of the
system. Our de duction s of Tay lor's vehicle are co ntained in
Table 10.
7. 3. 4 Summary of Performance Data
Although the foregoing studies in this sect io n are subj ect to
wide to leran ces in detail , t he picture is rela tive ly clear. Project
Orion studied vehicles capable of moving pay loads rangi ng
from a few hun dred to probab ly I 000 tonnes around t lie
Solar System with a range of vehicle sizes. The gross ignitio n
we ight appears to spa n two orders of magnitude, from abo u t
400 to 40,000 tonnes, enco mpass ing missions fr om low Ea rth
orbit and Lun ar ferry to te rrestri al planet exp loratio n and
dee p So lar System exploratio n. Miss.io n times from Jess t han
one year to severa l years appear to have been co nsidered, the
practicality of the latter being made possib le by the very high
pay load mass available, and hence less de manding co nstraints
on crew e nvironment.
Although costs have not been discussed a great dea l in
this review, due to firstly t he fact t hat inflation has made
quoted figures now meaningless, ands con dly beca use accur-
ate data for entirely nu clear operations arc not readi ly avail-
able, it does still seem possible from what has been publi shed
to suggest that two orders of magnitud e co uld be removed
from specific transport costs of .large payl ads with the Orion
system .
-in t he mid 196 0s environm ent t he contami1rntion problem
for an Ea rth launch was co nsidered acceptab le, but without
further data it is not possible to judge if this would be
regarded as such today.
Finally , it is remarka ble that s uch a huge performance
potential appears to co ntinue to go unexp loited, more than
ten years after the Orion study ended, having arrived at such
far-re aching conclusions.
7. 4 Experimental Programme
7. 4. l Work Carried O ut during th e Project
During the Orion study about 50% of the effort expended
was o n p ractica l test work aimed at giving confidence in the
areas in which the project was most radica l. Thus the pusher,
for examp le, which is the interface between t he vehicle and
the nuclear exp losions, received a good deal o f experim e nta l
testing, at the end of which t he design team was able to say
with consi dera ble co nfidence t hat the Orion concept was
feasible wit h no new inventio ns required.
The earliest test work began almost as soo n as t he project
was formed, with the testing o f pusher plates for resistance
to shock loading. This was don e by deto nating shee t high
exp losive in front of pla tes of candidate materials including
JOO
Fig. 15. Typical p usher a blat ion samp le fro m Orion testing.
alumin ium, steel, copper an d wood. The analysis of the
resulting impulse driven into the pusher stru cture esta blished
allo wab le limi ts o n pressure and acce lerat ion o n ca ndi date
pushe r, shoc k absorber, and shock absorber attachment
syste ms [ 19 ]. The technique was co nsidere d for fatigue t est-
ing with repetitive detonations, although it is not known if
such testing was in fact carried o ut. It was also t hought t hat
t he techn ique cou ld be extended to fu ll size pusher plate and
module response test ing.
Another aspect of t he p usher which was subject to study
was that of ablatio n of the p usher sur face . Samples of pusher
material 12.5 cm in diameter and 5 cm thick were place d in
a vacuum chamber adjacent to a high energy de nsity plasma
generator driven by an implosion source operated by high
exp losive. The pla sma expa nde d in to the va cuum chamber,
st rikin g the target with a typ ica l pulse duratio n of 0. 2 msec
produ cing surface temperat ures greate r than 8 0 ,000 K. The
target was hea vily instrumented to measure the plasma dens-
ity , pressure, velocity and temperature. After the test t he
ab lation, usually non-uniform with a depth of 0.25-0 .5 mm
(for a luminium) , was measured and corre lated with t he
plasma parameters and t heo ret ical pred ictions. Fig. l 5 shows
a photograph of a test specimen whi ch was ha lf protected
from the plasma in the test . The ablated zone is clearly seen.
It was in the course of testing such as t his that the protect ive
effect of grease films was observed .
Probably the most glamoro us demonstration of the feas-
ibi li ty of t he pulse rocket principle was ca rried o ut between
October 1959 and the ea rly half of 196 0. In those mo nths a
flyi.n g test vehicle, unde r the unofficial na me "Project Pu t-
Put" was tested and fi nally flown successfu lly . Th is vehicle
was inte nde d to demonstrate stabili ty and system viability
and the movie films of these tests remain one of t he most
exciting demonstrations that pulse rockets are an engineering
rea lity. The Put-Pu t vehicle is shown in F ig. 16; it was about
90 cm in di ameter and about 12 0 cm lo ng, with a mass of
abo ut 140 kg. It carried five high exp losive charges which
were "s haped" wi th a steel plate on the lower side to direct
t he moment um to some exte nt ax ia ll y. T he mass of each
exp losive charge was abo u t I kg. T hese vehicles were flow n
from Po int Loma, San Diego, wh ere their trajector ies were
fo llowed by fiv e tracking ca meras. Although a number of
failures occurred, successfu l ro unds eventually flew to a lt i-
tudes of abo u t 6 0111 . Fig. 17 shows some stages of such a flight.
At t he end of the flight, the vehicle was recove red by
parachute and the land ing made gently, assisted by the p usher
plate asse mbly. This latte r point is obviously of co nsiderable
in terest when considering a fully reco verable Eart h-based,
manned space vehicle. A main result of t hese tests was the
demonstration of inherent system stabi li ty, in whi ch subse-
quent detonations correct for the off-ax is perturbations of
earlier ones.
The full extent of testing during Project Orion is unknown.
Available reports on the developm e nt of instrumentation
[36, 44, 49, SO] suggest it wa s indee d exten sive. The authors,
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical Review of an Advanced Propulsion Concept
'I
I
Fig. 16. Projecl Orio n flight test vehicle ("Put-Put") .
however, have fo und no evidence tha t any di rec l nu clear
testing too k place, a lt ho ugh it is kn o wn t ha t ex peri e nce was
drawn on fro m wea po ns effects testing in th e US wea po ns
test progra m me .
7. 4. 2 Projec ted T »1·1ing
Orion e nd ed just al th e stage wh c r reco mm e nda tio ns were
be ing ma de for mo re substantial and re prese nta tive testing
to be carried out.
Altho ugh impulse testing a nd a blut i n testin g was to be
co ntinued o n a large r scale, the o nl y way to ac hi.e ve t hese
condi t io ns simultan eo usly was with nu ·!ca r cha rges. It was
th erefo re p ro po sed t ha t und ergro un d n uc lear testin g sho ul d
be carrie d o ut o n teth ered pro pul sio n mo dul es to give da ta
on spe cifi c impulse and subj ect t he syste m to rea l co ndi tio ns.
Ho weve r, it was still i nte nded to clo most mcc hun ica l develo p-
me nt by mea ns of high ex plosive (n o n-nu clear) dynamic
tests " at scales relevant t o usefull y size d vchi ·!cs."
A further reco mmendation fr o m the Orio n tea m to t h.e
AEC was to design , fabricate and t est nu c.lear ·harges, in
close co-ope ra tion with propulsion specialist s, to develo p
efficient pul se units intended specifi ca lly for thi s p urp ose .
Th e Ori.on team believed th at they co uld reach the stage
of nu clear flight test without having to do a t est a bo ve
ground , with th e hope that in the interim perio d the nu clear
test ban treaty would be amende d to a dmit t hi s type of
atmospheric ato mic ex plosio n.
8. THE FIRST INTERSTELLAR D ESIGN -
DYSON, 1968
Free man Dyson was one of the scientists involved in Project
Orion, and a few years after the e nd of th a t proj ect he applie d
the concept of nuc lear pulse propulsion , still with large
bombs , to an application far in advance of any before that
time - inter stellar travel (70]. Dyson too k prese nt-day
( 1968) technology a nd con sidered the kind of missions that
were possible to a-Centauri , a G2 type star 4 .2 light years
from the Sun.
Although Dyson retained the concept of large explosions
he moved away from the use of fission bombs and considered
the use of de uter.ium fusion , in order to take advantage of
th e much lower cost , in terms of ene rgy production, that
this gives relative to uranium fission.
Dyson calculated that th e available e xhaust velo city from
de ute rium fusion was in the r ange of 7 .5 x I 0 5 - l .5 x l 0 7 m
sec- 1, and noted that good energy efficien cy can be attain ed
with a single stage vehicl e and a low ma ss ratio if t he mission
velocity is a bout 2/3 this valu e , i.e. 5 x I 0 5 - 1 x 107 m sec- 1.
Th e paper then went on to consider how t o use an e nergy
source delivering its energy in bursts of o ne megato n , or
4 x l 0 15 Joules. There are two limitations in princi ple: an
ene rgy limitation set s a lower limit that can be bettered ,
and a mome ntum limitation sets an upper limit that cannot
be bette red without an advance in te chnology .
The e nergy limitation states that a vehicle could survive
such an explosion if the exposed surfa ce had a large e nough
hea t capacity to absorb the entire incide nt energy without
me lting. Thus, using copper as the h eat condu ctor some
5 x I 0 6 tonnes is require d to absorb Yi m egaton of energy
(ass uming the other half to be radiated into spa ce). ff this
quantity is made into a hemisphere with a 20 km di ameter,
the n t he thickness is 1 mm . Th e heat conductivity of copper
is such t hat it will spread the hea t through this thi ckness in
"-' I 0 msec, a bout equal to the pulse duration. One hundred
seco nds wer e required to allow the copper to radi atively
cool before the next pulse.
Th e dimensions and performance of this heat-sink type
301
Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bond

TABLE 11. Dyson Heat Sink Vehicle.

Weight of co ppe r hem isp he re (to nnes) 5 x 10 6

We ight of remainder of stru cture a nd payload (tonnes) 5 x 10 6
Weight or empty ship (to nn es) 10 x l 0 6
Weight o f 3 x 10 7 bo mbs (tonnes) 30 x 10 6
Ma ss ratio 4
Energy efficie n cy 0.75
Miss io n velocity (m sec- 1) 10 6
Total acceleration time (years) I 00
Mean accelerat ion (g) 3 x 10-s

of vehi cle are given in Table 11.

In order to improve on this pe rform ance, t he reslriction
that all t he e ne rgy must be absorbed is lifted, and an ablation
coa ting o f the ex pose d surface is subst ituted . T he limita tio n
on the performance of this design is then set by the capacity
of shock absorbe rs to transfer momentum from an impulsively
accelerated pusher plate to the smoot hly accelerated vehicle.
Dyson ca lculated that the properties of available materials
limited the velocity transferre d by a single exp losio n to be
about 3 0 m sec- •, indepe ndent of t he size and nat ure of the
exp losion. If the vehicle is to be acceleraled at 1 g, with t hi s
velocity transfer, t he n the pulse rate is o ne per t hree seco nds.
The performance of this design is show n i n Table 1 2.
Compared with t he previous design it is a factor of 10 higher
in velocity, down a factor of I 00 in weight and payload a nd
do wn a factor l 0 .in tota l cost.
Concerning the cost of a mission , Dyso n not ed that the
ablation spaceship cost about o ne-te nth of the G ross National
Produ ct (GNP) of t he United States. A vehicle velocity of
10 7 m sec- 1 is equiva lent to 'V 1 parsec per century and so
the nearer stars co uld be rea ched after flights of a few hun-
dred years. Obviously , such a venture is impractical at present,
but a t a growt h rate of 4% per year the G NP would be a
thousand times large r in about 200 years, and t hi s wa s when
Dyson con sidered that interstellar travel would begin.
T his paper, then, discussed limits to design rather t han
details. As such it _- 1Ved t he way for more speculative studies
and for designs with eve n higher performance. Certai nly , it
had an influen ce on so me people destined to beco me me m-
bers of the Project Daedalus team at t he t ime when they
were first becoming interested in in terstellar trave l.

9. LASER IGNITION PROPOSALS - BLASCON,

1969

In early 1969 (although the report was not issued until July
1971) Fraas at Oak Rid ge studied the app lication to power
reactors and space vehicles of the thermonuclear ignition
of droplets of deuterium and tritium by the 1:1se of an intense
(> I megajoule) foc used laser bea m with a short pulse dura-
tion . His concept was ca lled Blasco n, short for Blast Con-
tainment [71 , 72 ] . Here we discuss the space veh icle aspects.

TABL E 12. Dyson Ablation Ve hicle.

Weight of struct ure a nd payload (to nnes) 5 x 10 4

Weight of e mpty ship (to nnes) 10 5
Weight of 3 x 10 5 bombs (tonnes) 3 x 10 5
Mission velocity (m sec- 1) 10 7
~ ig.17. "Put-Put" flight test. Sequence taken from a movie film, show-
Total acceleration time (days) lO
ing high explosive charge ejection , detonation and climb of vehicle.
Mean acceleration (g) l

302
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical R eview of an Advanced Propulsion Concept
In order to uti lise t he ne utrons and X-rays from a OT
reaction to produ ce thru st, lithium hydride was used as a
propellant. T he pe lle t configuration envisage d was a sp he rical
shell of LiH about 22 cm in di a meter with a radial thickn ess
of abo ut 10 cm. The OT pellet was suspended at t he ce nt re
and a radial ho le a bout 1 cm in dia meter provid ed access for
the laser bea m. Th e void around t he DT minimised the con-
duction of heat by t he e lectro ns. T hese pe llets were exploded
just below the base of the vehicle, and Fraas calcu lated a
base specifi c impulse of 'V 6000 secs fo r a l c m diameter OT
pe llet of mass 0.1 gm with 4% undergoing fu sio n , or 'V 3 000
secs when the fract io n of th e explodin g pla sma which strik es
t he base of t he vehi cle is i.n clu ded .
Fraas co mpared t he mass ratios required for a range of
pla netary missions , an d showed that t he valu e was 'V l .5-
2.5 fo r mi ssio ns from Venus to Pluto. Mo st of the fu e l mass
will be th e LiH shells with only ~ 0 . 1% co nsisting of OT
pellets.
F raas co nsidere d such topics as radiatio n shielding , sto r-
age of t he radioact ive tritium fue l, electric power require-
ments for t he lase r ignition syste m ('V 300 kW) , spallation of
the shock a bso rbe r plate, a nd the design of t he shock abso rber
itself.
A sche mati c of a po ssible design is sho wn in F ig. 18. Two
nu clea r elect ric power plants we re provided and these were
arra nged in such a way that their shield s fe ll o n the lin e of
sig ht betwee n the OT explosio ns an d t he crew qua rters. The
spacecraft would be rotated to provide art ifi cial gravity , th e
plane of rotatio n coin ciding with that of the desired t raject-
ory. T his mea ns that the explosions had to occur at the
rotation al spee d of t he spacecra ft , and for 6 rpm t his implied
one ex plosio n eve ry I 0 seconds. The crew would pro bably
be provided with a shi elded compartment for use in the event
of a severe so lar flar e , and this could be used durin g the few,
relatively sho rt, periods in which the Blasco n prop ulsio n
system would be operating.
10. LASER COMPRESSION PROPOSALS - PROJECT
SIRIUS, 1970-1971
During t he late 196 0s theoretical st udi es .in severa l US fu sion
La boratories raise d t he possibilit y of ign iting very s mall
quantities of material by compressio n and hea ting using laser
bea ms [73) . T his mea11t that se vera l of t he objectio ns to the
Shuttle
craft
Crew
quarters
Blascon llquiprnent
and propqllant
Fig. 18 . Schematic layout of a Blascon-type vehicle (after Ref. 71).
Orion design co uld be sideste ppe d - in part icular, t he use
of fusio n would be a cleaner process t han fissio n, allowing
possible atmospheric testing and alleviating problems with
ve hicle and pay lo ad sh ielding, and , seco ndly , the e nergy
release was very sma ll , t hus lea ding to a much less massive
veh icle and associate d syste ms.
T he first la boratory to publish informatio n o n its nuclear
pu lse rocket design con cepts was Lo s Alamos [ 7 4-7 6 ) who
carrie d o ut ge neral design work and discussed a specific
vehicle configu ration (unofficially given t he name Sirius, the
prin cipal star in the conste llation Ca nis Major which fo llows
close to Orio n in the sky). Their work looked in detail at
intern al and externa l designs, and so me of their co nclusions
have bee n discussed in Section 2 . T he external design relied
on ablation of the pusher p late, as in t he Orion design , and
th e vehicle which resulte d had a specific impulse of aro und
4000-6 000 secs.
Although t he work of t he gro up was mainly concerned
with assessing t he ca pabilities of exte rn al an d in terna l sys-
tems, and with specific design problems such as pusher plate
con ce pts [ 97 l o r neutron sl1ielding, they did discuss a pos-
sible vehicle design based on t he external co ncept . It was
note d that t he discussion wa s specu lat ive and that less atten-
tion was given to this aspect.
T he ne utron and r-ray heating in th e forward part of t he
vehicle is minimised by an elo ngated design . T he payload area
is very far fo rward and ben efits from both t he effect of
dista nce and the effect of material sha do w-shielding per-
form ed by t he e nfoe vehicle.
The waste heat ge nerate d ('Va fe w hundred kilowatts) is
dumped via the large fin-shaped plates of a ra di ator system .
The storage bays for the pulse units are clustered cylindrical
tank s, and the a blative material for the pusher plate is stored
fo rward of the pulse-unit bays.
The laser wa s envisage d to co nsist of two compon ents - a
permanent first stage carried on-board of t he ve hicle and a
disposa ble fina l stage de ployed wi t h the explosive charge.
This final stage can be co nvenient ly dep loyed with the exp lo-
sive sin ce t he lase r reacta nts will probably not be re-usable
and the fina l focusing mirror will be destroyed in t he ex plo-
sion. A possible configuration is shown in F ig. 19. After the
pulse unit has bee n released fro m the ve hicle the chemicals
of the final laser stage are vente d or vapourise d and mixed
in a large mylar bag which expands to the desired shape in
the va cuum of space. The fina l laser stage is initiated by the
Communications
equipment and
propqlla nt
2 Nuclear-electric
powerplants
Blascon shock
absorber
303
Anthony R . Martin and Alan Bond

PulSG: unit 11. HIGH SPECIFIC IMPULSES - HYDE , WOOD &

Aluminiscd
mylar mirror
Mylar bag
rig. 19. Final laser stage co nce pt (after Ref. 76).
laser pul se from the ve hicle ·and ge ne rates a spherical light-
wave front. The bag includes a coate d mylar mirror aft of
the pulse unit to focus the laser light.
The deploym·e nt scheme for the syst e m was that of Orio n,
in which th e pulse units a re fire d tluough a hole in the
centre of the pusher plate, and this hole is th e n used for the
lase r to fire through. A d eflection con e would prote ct th e
ve hi cle fro m the de bris from the explosion. An altern at ive
co nfig uration , shown in F ig. 20, is to have a n array of firing
tub es which are positione d so tha t the y a re shi e lde d fro m
th e e xplosio n by the pus he r plate when it is exte nd e d , bu t
uncove red when the plate is midwa y t hrough its cy cle .
So me o f t he vehicle masses a nd performa nce pa ra me te rs
are sh o wn in Ta ble 13 and more d etail ed assess men t o f t he
performan ce capability of t he ve hicle can be found in t he
papers refere nce d.
Firing tuber Pulse unit
~--- - - - - -
NUCKOLLS , 1971 -1972
In 1968 Dyso n ha d di sc ussed ve hi c les with s pecifi c impulses
as hig h as I 0 6 seconds, bu t t he fir st de ta iled design fo r
impul ses in this ran ge was ca rri ed o ut by a gro up at Lawre nce
Live rmore Laboratory in 197 1-1972 [77-79 ).
The concept paralleled the contemporary study at Lo s
Alamos in th a t the new ideas rega rding fu sion mi cro ex plo-
sio ns, with ene rgy re leased in millito ns rather than kilo ton s,
we re ex ploite d . Ho we ve r , the use o f a push er pla te was dis-
pe nsed with and magn e ti c fi e lds we re used to de fl ec t the
c ha rge d pa rticles from the ex plosio n a wa y fro m th e ve hi c le
to p ro du ce thrust.
T he mass o f t he thru st c ha mbe r o f s uc h a ve hicle is a
fun c tion o f the size o f t he ex plosion in side it , bu t is a lmost
indepe nd e nt of the rate o f ex plo sion s. He nce, th e specific
thrust ca n be increase d by ex plo ding a large numbe r of fu e l
pe llets e very second . In t h e Live rm o re de sign the e xplosion
frequ e nc y was 500 per second , a nd th e pellets were launche d
on the ir traj ectories into the c hambe r by a me chani cal accel-
erator. This was e nvisage d as a ra pidly s pinning paraboli c
bowl with a he lica l groo ve runnin g a round its inne r surfa ce.
Afte r leaving t he acce lerato r the pellet t ra ve ls 'V 100 m to
reac h the reactio n cha mber , thus a llo win g the exac t pellet
traj ecto ry to be det er min e d and th e ex act in sta nt to fire the
laser to be ca lcula te d . A sc he ma ti c d iag ra m of the vehi cle is
sho wn in F ig. 2 1.
T he pelle t is ex plo de d whilst in mo tio n by be ing co m-
pre sse d t o thermo nucl ear igni tio n te mp eratu res by eight
symmetrically co nverge n t lase r bea ms. T hese bea ms a re
p ro duce d by the sam e laser and a re refl e cted into th e reac tion
chambe r by mirrors protected from de bri s from the e xplosion
by the cha mber ma gnet ic fi e lds. Th e lase r used to e xplode
the pellets diffe rs fro m terres tri a l lasers du e to t he proble ms
o f hea t rej e ction in s pace. It must ha ve a high e ffi c ie n cy bu t,
beca use a ll wast ed e nergy must be ra di at ive ly rej ected , it
must a lso o p era te at a high te m perat ure. The design used a
mercury la se r o pe ratin g a t 1500 K and three atmos pheres

-< I: J
-- _ j trajoctory

--- - ----;f~
wit h a 33% e ffi c ie ncy , pro du ci ng s u b-n an oscco nd pulses o f
V• h•cl• I MJ e ne rgy . The lase r, as sho wn in Fig. 2 1, was in th e fo rm
of a lo ng cy linder wit h t wo rad ia tor fin s w ith heat pipes
- :=:::::::===--=:J ~~~(l
C::: Push<r pla1• ex te ndin g alo ng its le ngt h.
strotce
T he de sign of the fu el pelle ts was do mi nate d by the ava il-
ability a nd co st of fu el, t he nee d for a lo w ignition te mp-
e rature and the need to re lease as many ion s as possibl e to
Pig. 20. Alternative pulse unit deplo yment co ncept (after Ref. 76).
in crease t he spe cifi c thrust . These re quire me nts a re so me-
what co ntra dic to ry to eac h o the r , a nd a co mp ro mi se desig n
which satisfie d th e first t wo was to use a pe lle t tha t was
p ri nc ipa lly de uterium , but a lso co nt ain e d a s mall amo unt o f
TA BLE 13. Sirius Vehicle Param eters. t ritium· to a id ignitio n .
Ho we ve r , t his design mea ns t ha t a bo u t 30% of the ex plo -
Energy per explosion 7.47 x LOIO J sio n e nergy appea rs in ise n t ro pi ca lly e mitte d pho to ns a nd
ne ut ron s w hi ch ca nn o t be de fl ected. T his e ne rgy fra cti o n
Explosion rep etition rate l sec- 1 a mo unts to 'V J 8 G W of o utput po we r in the design , and so
Pulse unit mass 5 kgm t he solid angle subtende d by the ve hicle chamber stru cture
Exhaust velocity 4. 33 x 104 m sec- 1 must be kept to a minimum . T he re sulting cha mbe r configura-
tion is shown sche mati ca lly in F ig. 22. It consists of an
Specific impulse 4,410 secs ax ia ll y sy mme tric magne ti c mirror, ge nera te d by t wo curre nt
Thrust 2. 17 x 10 5 N loo ps. T he s tron gest mag netic fie ld occurs at th e s mall co il
Vehicle masses which reverses t he plasma fl o w , direc ting it out thro ugh th e
Laser 50 0 kgm big co il to produ ce the t hrust. T he c urrents whi ch pro du ce
the magne tic fi elds ar e large a nd req uire sup e r-co ndu ctors
Momentum conditioner 1802 kgm and ext ra support st ru ct ure fo r th e co ils.
Pusher plate 1802 kgm Ne utron shields o f 6 Li are pla ce d be twee n the co ils a nd
Propellant 4050 kgm the e xplo sion regio n t o st o p th e un cha rge d pa rti cles. The
shield around th e small coil is part o f a 6 Li circulation sys-
Stru cture 1961 kgm te m , and the tritium produ ce d via ne utron -induce d reac tions
Total initial vehicle mass 19.6 tonnes is re covered for use in the fuel pellets.
Payload 9.5 tonnes The power for the excitation o f the lase r or for other
nee ds is obtaine d from the mi cro e xplo sion by a pickup coil

304
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical R eview of an Advanced Propulsion Concept

Las<Zr h<zat pipcz radiator

Las<Zr volum<Z
Fu<ZI storog<Z -----...~

P<Zll<Zt

V<Zhicl<Z tie Capacitor

bank

radiat or

point
- - - - - - - 100m ----------4

R<Zar coil
Fig. 21. Schematic layo ut of Hyde, Wood and Nucko lls veh icle (after Ref. 79).

lin~s
6
U fcz:fld and return which is exposed to the transient ly expand ing magnetic field
in the t hrust chamber. T he curre nt induced in the coil is
ln t<.?:rcoi l tiebar and radiator
(on• of tour) \ dumped t hro ugh a transmission line to an e nergy storage
capacitor bank which stores sufficient energy for eight laser
pulses.
The performance of this vehicle with a specific impulse
of 5.5 x 10 5 secs has already been discussed in Section 3.3.
A summary of some relevant data for a design with a slightly
lower specific impulse is given in Table 14 . T he ge nera l co n-
clusion of the study was that specific impulses approaching
10 6 secs appear attainable, three orders of magnitude greater
than with c hem ical propulsio n and two orders of magnitude
B Shield radiator above previous fissio n or fu sion nuclear pu lse designs. Co n-
tinuous t hrust manned missions to esse ntially any point in
B Coil and n<1:u tron
shi<Zld the Solar System co uld be possible with flight times "v 1 year.
Also, large fuel loadings at launch were thought to ma ke
Fig. 22 . Thrust cham be r co nfigurat ion of ll ydc , Wood and Nuckolls manned vehicles travelling to the nearest n eighbo uring stellar
ve hi cle (after Ref. 79). system in less t han a human lifetime possible.

TABLE 14. Hyde, Wood and Nuckolls Vehicle Para111eters. 12. ELECTRON BEAM INITIATION - WINTERBERG

Energy per exp losion 125 MJ 12. I Non-Compressive Method , 1970-1971

Usable energy 80MJ
A major con ceptual advance in the design of nuclear pulse
Exp losion repetition rate 500 sec- 1 rockets was published in 1970 by Winterberg of the Univers-
Pellet mass 0.015 gm ity of Nevada. He noted that there were problems with build-
Ex haust velocity 3.26 x I 0 6 m sec- 1
ing a laser with a large enough power outp ut, but that there
was a promising alternative to the laser - the relativistic
Specific impulse 3.33 x l 05 sec electron beam [ 8 0-82 ] .
Thrust 2.44 x 104 N T he sche me is shown in Fig. 23. A chain of thermonuclear
Propulsion syste m mass 300 tonnes explosions takes place in a concave magnetic mirror-reflector
whic h is open o n o ne side . The mirror co nsists of superco n-
Laser LS l ton(les
ducting magnetic field co ils with the coil winding around the
Chamber 54 to nnes axis of rotat io n. T he exp losive charge is mechanically inj ected
Energy distribution 17 tonnes in to the focus of the magnetic mirror. A relativistic electro n
beam is injecte d along t he axis of rotation, where its propa-
Refrigeration 9 tonnes
gation is unaffected by t he mag netic field . T he power is
Tanks 25 tormes deposited in a deuterium-tritium pellet of radius "v 2 mm,
Miscellaneo us 44 to nnes and heats t he material to fusion temperatures. Co mpression
Payload l 00 tonnes of the pellets was not considered by Winterberg . In this res-
pect t he scheme was similar to the Blascon co ncept , but with

305
Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bond

TABLE 15. Winterberg Vehicle Parameters.

Pellet
Ordinary conductor injector
Parameter Low SI High SI

Energy per exp losion (J) 10 10 l010

Exp losion repetition rate (sec- 1) 3 3
Electron beam
Ex hau st velocity (m sec- •) 6.2 x 104 106
Specific impulse (sec) 6,320 1.02x10 5
Blumlein
lina
Tluust (N) 9.7x l0 5 6 x 104
Vehi cle ma sses (to nn es)
Magnetic Ignition system 200 200
ficzld lines
ruel 4 .7 1,200
Propellant 1,200 0
Supqrconductrng Tota l initial ve hi cle mass 1,500 1,5 00
field coil
Payload (to nnes) 100 100
Fig. 23. Schematic of the ignition system and t hru st chamber in the
Winterberg concept (after Ref. 82).

electron beams replacing laser beams. design was the first to clearly indicate the enormous potential
A shie ld of an ordinary conductor was placed on the inner of a nuclear pulse rocket, compared with other systems.
side of the concave magnetic mirror reflector , to protect the
superconductors which do not operate under rapidly varying
12. 2 Compressive Method, 1976-1977
magnetic fields. Currents induced in the shield will i~t eract
with the magnetic field to produce an e l ectro ma~n et 1 c body
force which served to propel the vehicle , which was rigidly A further contribution by Winterberg to the design of nuclear
connected to the mirror. The magnetic coupling w:i t h pu lse prope lled vehicles centred on the attempt to find a fuel
exiernal conductors was used to draw energy from the ex plo- which leads only to charged fusion products, with little or
no neutron production [83]. A good candidate is 3He, but
sion by magnetohydrodynamic power conversion, to re-
this is almost non-existe nt o n Earth and so Winterberg con··
charge the capacitor bank supply for the electron beam
sidered the rea ction of protons with boron I I (p 11 B). The
generators.
ignition energy of this reaction is typica ll y ~ 103 times
The conceptual design of the thermonuclear micro born b
larger than DT or D 3He and in order to reduce the mass
was examin ed . A DT pe llet a fraction of a centim etre in
associated with the ignition system the concept of co mpres-
diameter was surrounded by a spherica l shell of nat ural
sive, staged thermonuclear microexplosion s was exp lored.
uranium, to he lp inertia lly confi ne the DT mix ture after
Here the energy produced by a small explosion is used to
ignition and to increase the tota l ene rgy output via fusion-
ignite a subsequent, larger one, e.g. a DT first stage may be
neutron induced fission rea ctions. The uranium was sur-
used to ignite a p 11 B seco nd stage. As the second stage out-
rounded by solid hydrogen to act as a propellant. The con-
put ene rgy is larger than that of the first by severa l 01:ders of
centric shells had a circular opening through which an elec-
magnitude , only a small relative fract ion of neutrons 1s .
tron beam could pass to deposit its energy at the core (again,
released. An example of Winterberg's calculations is given 111
a concept similar to the Blasco n design).
Table 16.
Alternatively , the possibility of removing the uranium
The use of I 05- 106 J of input energy reduces the mass of
shell (to reduce optica l radiation) and the possibility of using
the ignition system, while the low neµtro n fraction reduces
D3He instead of DT, or in the form of another shell around
the size and mass of the waste heat rejection system. Rep lace-
the DT were considered. It was noted that only a detailed
ment of 3J-Ie by rela tively abundant 11 B, which is available
study o'f the prob lem wou ld be ab le to determine the opti-
even in the severa l l 0 4 tonne sca le required for an interstellar
mum condition, both in terms of mi cro bomb performan ce veh icle, is also a majo r factor.
and propulsion system mass.
Winterberg considered four methods of producing staged
The use of a hydroge n she ll has the effect of increasing
explosio ns, thsee of which (shock wave lens, shock wave
the thrust while moderating the specific impulse somewhat.
mirror and adiabatic Prandtl-Mayer flow) require material
An opt imisa tion ana lys is was applied to this aspect of the
additional to the exp losive charge a nd would thus reduce
propulsion system, the aim of which was to minimise the
amount of high-cost the rm onuclear fu e.1 co nsumed. Th is
minimum will require a higher mass ratio t han t he minimum
possible mass ratio, but this is of minor importa nce be cause TABLE 16. Characteristics of Staged Ex plosions.
of the high fuel cost.
Paramete r Low High
Some vehicle parameters are shown in Table I 5 for the
Compressio n Compression
case of this optimised design (exhaust velocity= 6.2 x I 04 m
sec- 1 ) and for a design in which no hydrogen moderation is lnput energy to DT (J) 106 105
prese~t and the exhaust velocity ( I 06 m sec- 1 ) is the maxi- Energy re leased to charged
mum attainable with the thermonuclea r fue l plasma alone. fus ion products (J) 2 x 10 7 106
The propulsion system described made manned Mars mis- 11
Energy from p B
sions of within a week possible, i.e. the same period presently
required for a Lunar mission. With an exhaust velocity of lsl stage (J) 'V3 x 10 9 5 x 10 7
rv I 06 m sec-•, final velo cit ies of the order of 300 km/sec 2nd stage (1) 1010
(3 x I os m sec- 1) were attainable, and this meant that the Fract ion of energy in neutrons (%) 4 x 10-4
2.7
planet Saturn could be reached within two months. This

306
 Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: A Historical Review of an Advanced Propulsion Concept

TABLE 17. Project Daedalus Vehicle Specification.

Magn<!lic fiqld
timzs
Parameter Pirst Stage Second Stage

Propellant mass 46,000 tonnes 4,00U tonnes

Engine exhaust velocity 1.06 x 10 7 m sec-• 0.921 x J0 7 m sec-•
Stage mass at cut-off 1,690 tonnes 980 ton nes
Engine burn time 2.05 yea rs 1.7 6 years
Ignition system Relativistic electro n Relativistic electron
beam beam
Propellants D,31-Ie D, 3He
Number of propellant
tanks 6 4

Pig. 24. Magnetic cusp geometry for staged explosions (after Ref. 83). Thrust 7.54xl0 6 N 6.63 x J0 5 N
Bomb repetition rate 250 Hz 250 Hz
Payload mass 450 tonnes

the overall specific impulse. While this would not be a

serious drawback in a Solar System vehicle, it would be in
almost four years would be required to achieve the necessary
an interstellar application . coast velocity with the consumption of 50,000 tonnes of
The fourth method, based on staged magnetic reflectors propellant .
produced by superconducting field coils, is illustrated in Some of the fina l vehicle specifications are shown in
Fig. 24. For such a system to be feasible the magnetic pres- Table 17 and an artist 's impression of the second stage of the
sure must be high enough to withstand the stagnation pres- vehicle during powered flight is shown in Fig. 25.
sure of the explosion. Assuming an energy of 10 10 J for the
The study examined in some detail the physics and
final stage, Winterberg estimated that a field o'f 30 Tesla and
engineering of the propulsion system and comprehensive
a cusp radius of 2 m we re required.
designs were arrived at for the vehicle structure and payload.
The protection of the vehicle during its high velocity fl.ight
through interstellar and near-stellar space was studied . A
13. STRETCHING TECHNOLOGICAL LIMITS -
system jnvolving a simple beryllium shield for t he former
PROJECT DAEDALUS, 1973-1978
case was emp loyed and a free-flying particle cloud ahead of
the vehicle for the encounter phase was proposed. All the
Project Daedalus was the name given to a study of an int er-
data collected during the mission were to be transmitted
ste llar mission , performed by members of the British Inter-
back to the Solar System via a microwave communication
planetary Society during the years 1973- 197 8 [ 84-88 ] . The
link.
resu)ts of the study were fully docum ented in the final
This study was unique in that while the members of the
report publ.ished by the Society (88] a nd , in view of the
team who carried it out were all professionally engaged in
comprehensive nature of this report and its ready ava ilabil.ity ,
fields allied to that of the project, it was actually performed
only an outline of the project will be given here .
on an " extramural activity" basis, with the British Inter-
The vehicle was centred around an adva nced two-stage
planetary Society providing a cohesiveness to the study.
nuclear pulse rocket in which pellets of d · uterium a nd
helium-3; se vera l centimetres in diame ter, were compresse d
and heated to thermonucl ar ignition co ndi t io ns by the use
of rela tivistic electron bea ms.
Due to the mi ssion requirements f the st udy , essentially
to achieve a cut-off velo city of a bout I 2% of the speed of
light , the technological capability assumed was-all wed to
be extrapo lated to a level thought reasonable for half a
century hence , where necessary. In a se nse, therefore this
study is Jess immediate in its practicality than most o'f t he
other studies discussed in this history , a feat ure which it
does, however , share with the other inters te llar vehicles
w·hich have bee n proposed.
The study suggested that an exhaust velo city of l 07 111
sec-1 shou ld be ach ievab le ( l 0 6 sec specific impulse) with a
vehicle acceleration of 0.1 - 1.0 m/sec 2 • The fu el pellets would
be i~n i ted at a rate of 250 per second giving the first stage
engme a nuclear power generation rate of a lmost J 0 14 watts.
The vehicle had an ignition mass of about 54 000 tonnes and
was assembled in space. The heliurn-3 requir; d for the mis-
Fig. 25. Second stage of the Daedalus vehicle during powered flight
sion would be obtained from the at mosphere of Jupiter by (artist, Bill Dillon).
atmospheric mining.
The object of the mission was to perform a one-way un-
decelerated .fly-by of a nearby star, the one selected for study
purposes be mg Barnard's Star at a distance of six light years
from the Sun. A sophisticated robot payload with a mass of 14. SOVIET WORK - PROJECT ICARUS, 1976
45~ tonnes would make measurements in interstellar space
dunng the 50 year flight, and in the near-stellar space of the The only Soviet work on nuclear pulse propulsion of which
target star during the encounter period. A boost period of we are aware is Project lcarus, carried out by Filyukov and

307
Anthony R. Martin and Alan Bo nd
Za ki..rov of t he Ap plie d Mathemati cs Academy of Sciences
in Moscow ( 9 1) . The na me of the proj ect was c hose n "to
unde rline its prox imi ty to the aims and proble ms of
'Daeda lu s' as well as to show t he differe nces of these two
projec ts in so me esse nti al points."
T he a uthors listed th e main rli sadvantages of Dae da lu s as
the use of sca rce 3 1-le, the short observa ti o n ti me at th e
dest inati o n star, and the neglec t of the effect s of scie nt ifi c
and techn ica l progress du ring the flight.
In o rd e r to surmount t he fu el problem the u se of t hermo-
nuclear chain reactions was proposed , where by th e products
from an initia l reaction are al so burnt to produ ce e ne rgy.
R eactions betw ee n D, T , 3He a nd 6 Li we re proposed, with
the fuel co mpositio n initially being non-o ptimum un t il suf-
ficient 3 1-le had accum ul ated from th e radioactive de ca y of
tritium.
An e xhaust ve locity of 'V 5 x 10 7 m sec- 1 was assum ed
fo r th e chai n react io n , whi ch represents the co mple te con-
versio n of paren t a nd d a ugh ter products and t he ir conversion
into energy in t he ve hi cle ex haust. Initiation of the reactions,
by compression to 'V l 0 2 1 m- 3 de nsity, was assu med to be
carried out with a megajou le laser , fo llowing t he work of
Hyde, Wood a nd Nuckolls [ 77 ] . The mass of 300 tonnes for
t he ignition system was also base d o n this wo rk .
TABLE 18. Stage Masses f o r the Ica rus Ve hicle.
Fuel Mass Str ucture Mass Subrocke l Ma ss
Stage Number
(tonnes) (tonn es) (tonnes)
5,500 400 17, 160
2 10,400 400 LI ,260
3 150 300 460
T h e vehicle was of a th ree stage configurati n w ith a fina l
scie ntific pay loa d of I 0 tonn es. T he approx im ate masses of
each stage are show n in Table 18. T he first stage acce lera te d
to 'V 0 .0 7 c. The second stage accelerate d to 'V 0. 28 c, a
velocity limited by co nsid eration o f in te rste llar erosio n , a nd
then dece lerate d to 'V 0.07 c again. T he prop uls ion syste m
was o pera tive during the wh o le mission , with no coast phase,
lead ing to low acce ler ations. T he t hird stage t he n dece lerate d
t he payload a nd its ignition syste m into orbit aro und the
target , Barnard's Star. The to tal flig ht time was ca lcula ted to
be 50-60 yea rs.
In an atte mpt to acco un t for scie ntific a nd technica l pro-
gress during the flight , a double pro be missio n was propose d
with the second probe being lau n che d 25 ye a rs after t he first.
When t he information from t he first pro be is received t he
second will be a t about t he half-way po int of its jo urn e y and
would make a tiecisio n whether to proceed with its mi ssio n
or to return to Earth.
15. CONCLUDING REMARKS
T his histo ri ca l review of the nuclear pulse propulsion concept
is, inevitably , in co mplete. It is also proba bly inacc ura te.
Mu ch of the lite ratu.re o n Proj ect Orion is still classified and
mu ch of the ot her li terature has on ly been declassified in
rece nt years. A great deal of material was either in accessible
to, or not known to ex ist by , t he authors whe n they bega n
writing this revie w .
We have de liber ate ly re frain e d from contacting t he
origin ators of the work reported here , in part because t he
still class ified nature of so me areas may ha ve· led to less in for-
mation than a proj ect deserved, and he nce less coverage, and
also beca use we have preferre d to piece toget he r the t hreads
of the story in the mann e r o f detectives.
We intend t he prese nt effo rt to re prese nt a first versio n
308
of the story . As time goes by, a nd mo re i nform atio n is
re lease d , th e pi cture will beco me clea re r. We wo uld also now
a ppea l to anyone who has been co nne c te d with any of t he
proj ects repo rte d he re, o r in deed any re le vant wo rk of whic h
we are st ill un a ware, to co ntact us. Co pies of repo rts, draw-
ings , photograp hs, etc., wo uld be invaluable. Bu t, perh aps
more importan t, will be an accou nt of the project, its aims,
su ccesses a nd its mot ivatio ns. F ig. I of o ur histo ry , th e nu clear
pulse pro pulsion fam il y tree, must sure ly require revision ,
bu t until so me of the bran c hes are filled in by t hose who se
work we have re ported on he re, th e n the sto ry mu st re main
in co mplete.
I-low best , the n , ca n we summ a rise this in co mple te story?
Over 20 y ea rs after th e fi.rst repo rt o n th e nu c lear pulse
propulsio n concept, by Evere tt a nd Ula rn in 19 55 , a mea ns
of propulsio n whi c h promises to give th e freedom of t he
Solar System to Mankind lies un ex ploited.
The work repo rte d o n in t he prese nt paper is histo ry ,
so me of it rece n t. If we a re ever to ma ke o ur mark in Space
a n effi c ie nt , rapid means of propulsio n is esse nti al. We urge
the uncla ssifie d de velopment a nd imple me nta tio n of the
nuclea r pulse propulsio n co ncep t as a mea ns to this e nd . The
adve nt of the Spa ce Shu tt le, re mo vin g rest ric tions co nn ec te d
with proh ibitive laun c h costs to orbit, a nd la se r and part ic le
beam fusio n so ur ces, re moving prob lems of sca le, co ntamin a-
tion , a nd te rrorist activit y, ca n be see n as fir st steps along t he
way. Let us take t he ot hers before much more histo ry is
writte n.
16. ACKNOWLEOGMENTS
T he aut hors would li ke to thank th e fo llow ing people for
he lp in obtaining material for use in co mpiling this revi e w:
A. A. De Simone, NASA Headquarters; Fred Durant of th e
Na tio na l Air a nd Space Muse um , Smithsonia n In stitutio n ;
-J ea n F urnish of Los Alamos S cie ntific Laboratory ; J ack
Morrison of Ge nera l Atomic Co mpany.
Figures 12 and 16 are by co urt esy of NASM , Smithso nian
[n st itution . F igs. 13, 15 and 17 arc Genera l Atomic Co mp a n y
material.
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* * *