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Alternative History

Alternative History. That did NOT happen to us By Eugene V . Bobukh. Project Orion. Spaceship driven by nuclear explosions. Yes this is absolutely possible. Earth to LRO fallout: 0 .1-10 Mt. Saturn manned roundtrip: 1 year in 1970s. Alpha Centauri: ~80 years in 1980s. Proposed: 1946.

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Alternative History

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  1. Alternative History That did NOT happen to us By Eugene V. Bobukh

  2. Project Orion Spaceship driven by nuclear explosions. Yes this is absolutely possible. Earth to LRO fallout: 0.1-10 Mt. Saturn manned roundtrip: 1 year in 1970s. Alpha Centauri: ~80 years in 1980s. Proposed: 1946. Incepted: 1958. Serious design and testing. Killed: 1963 by Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (!!!) and other political issues. To those familiar with Soviet sci-fi: see “Хиус”, 1959. After Chernobyl and Fukushima, don’t even propose that aloud anymore…

  3. Project NERVA • (Thermal) Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application • Test-ready by ~1969 • 8340 m/s in vacuum • T/M: 0.18 to 0.98 (with a rocket stage) • Planned Mars flight in 1978 and Moon base in 1981 • Ended in 1972 by budget cuts • USSR had a similar engine RD-0410 • 1965 – 1985 • 9000 m/s • T/M = 1.76 (engine only) RD-0410 test

  4. Manned Venus flyby • Based on lunar Apollo technology • Established: 1968. • Planned: • Launch 1973 • Return 1974 (11 months expedition) • Crew: 3 people • Who needs a man on or near Venus? • 500 C, 95 bars, opaque atmosphere, H2SO4 rain • Robots obviously won

  5. Project OTRAG Credit of http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/otrag.htm • Idea by Lutz Kayer: • Modular “cheap and dirty” rockets • Times mass production • ??? • Profit • 1975 – 1982 • Poor choice of countries • Congo, Libya • Test-flown • Killed by economic & political pressure • “…Crude Soviet-source disinformation was eagerly picked up and given credibility by the American mainstream media…”

  6. Delta Clipper (DC-XA), 1991-96The strangest tale ever! How many people here recognize this machine? This thing flew. For real. Yes, a mockup only. But totally feasible. A single-stage, completely reusable orbital rocket. Built by McDonnell Douglas & Strategic Defense Initiative Organization in 1991. Test flown. Transferred to NASA in 1993. Improved. Crashed in 1996. Closed. WTF???

  7. Done • There were many more… but better not dive into alternative history.

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