He didn't make that up. As crazy as it sounds, NASA considered exactly that idea...

digi_owl · on Dec 10, 2014

Well it was the 50s. Both sides of the cold war tried to come up with various uses of nuclear power. From civilian cars to military strategic bombers. Never mind using nukes to dig harbors...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chariot

And would it surprise anyone that a champion of this project was Edward Teller?

lutorm · on Dec 10, 2014

Don't disparage the idea. It's by far the most efficient high-thrust rocket engine we could build with any technology we know exist.

roywiggins · on Dec 10, 2014

My favorite is Project Pluto:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto

Which is nuclear ramjet, which has the small side-effect of spewing large amounts of radiation as it flies.

btilly · on Dec 10, 2014

There were some crazy conventional technologies also. One scientist, as a joke, did a calculation about the effects of adding mercury to rocket fuel. It wouldn't react with the fuel, but it would add a lot of weight which would make the thrust more efficiently move the rocket forward.

This was tested, found to be true, and thankfully never put to use in any actual rockets.

(For confirmation, track down Ignition!.)

pavel_lishin · on Dec 10, 2014

You mean, a convenient feature.

For everyone who's scrolling through this thinking, "Hey, this is pretty morbid," you ought to read http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm which kicks that feeling up to 11.

arethuza · on Dec 10, 2014

Pluto missiles also appear in Missile Gap, also by Charlie Stross - ballistic missiles have stopped working for quite an interesting reason....

NB A Colder War also gives me the creeps - largely for the point about what certain entities actually do with the souls they eat...

pavel_lishin · on Dec 10, 2014

I know exactly which line you're talking about, and it's probably one of my favorite lines in literature.

digi_owl · on Dec 10, 2014

I swear there is something in the water on the British Isles...