[sit-rep]

Okay, since you're the one who talks the deepest so far, you get the question...

Can you give me a thumb nail sketch on a "nuclear pulse detonation thrust engine"? How does it work? Or are we talking sci-fi here??

IMWLTK

SR

[Pyro7480]

Nuclear-pulse detonation thrust engines work in the followng way: you produce a bunch of "high-yield" nuclear devices that you eject from the back of the spacecraft periodically, and when the spacecraft is a safe distance away, you detonate the device, and the shock wave propells the spacecraft. Of course, the spacecraft has to be reenforced for this, but the speed that can be theoretically can be reached with this is a lot faster than a conventional rocket. You only use it in interplanetary space, of course, because of the dangers involved. If you think the stink raised over the plutonium used on deep space probes was bad, if this ever gets off the drawing board, expect a lot of outrage.

[Centurion2000]

An Orion pulse drive would have one God-awful heavy mounted shock / pusher plate on the rear of the craft. Not sure about the materials engineering but it would be strong and a good thermal radiator. The 'bombs' would be shot out the back and possibly ignited with laser fusion or the standard fission type. I think they were talking about 1 per minute up to one ever 10 seconds.

The shock wave from the blast would 'push' on the plate and provide thrust for ship.

Are they possible using today's material science ? Yep. The outer space treaty of 1967 prohibits nuclear detonations in space though. Biggest block to space development for the US ever made.

Any other questions ?

[Brett66]

Here's a pic:

And a link:

Building Tomorrow's Space Battleships with Today's Tech

[Centurion2000]

Final images

The stars are the limit.