Project Orion
57. The Project Orion test vehicle was used to explore the feasibility of a unique type of propulsion which utilized successive nuclear explosions behind the rear pusher plate.
Project Orion was an attempt to solve the problems of propulsion for long-term manned journeys to other planets by creating an engine that would use successive nuclear explosions to propel very large space vehicles. The Orion spacecraft was designed to carry many small nuclear explosive systems which would be ejected sequentially from the rear of the vehicle. These units would explode some distance behind the spacecraft. The expanding debris, in the form of high-velocity, high-density plasma, would strike a pusher plate at the rear of the Orion vehicle.
Work on Project Orion was halted in 1963 when the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited atmospheric tests of the propulsion system, was signed.
The Project Orion Test Vehicle—on display—demonstrated the basic principle of intermittent thrust from explosive charges. Test data provided by this model would have assisted engineers in developing the full-scale spacecraft.
The test vehicle carried five high-explosive plastic charges which were ejected from the rear of the craft. Compressed nitrogen powered the ejection system. Each charge was attached to the vehicle by a .9-meter (3-foot) cord. A microswitch exploded the individual packages. The Project Orion Test Vehicle was first flown successfully in October 1959.
From the Gulf Energy and Environmental Systems, Inc.