NASA announced a new "deep space" rocket yesterday: the Orion spacecraft, capable of exploring the outer solar system.
My recollection is, when this project was first discussed way back in the dim dark '80s, the idea was to basically throw a nuke under the spacecraft and propel it into deeper space that way, after a conventional chemical booster launched it into high earth orbit.
It seemed to me to be an efficient way to spend nuclear bombs in a peaceful manner.
I'm sad to see that was eliminated from the project.
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