Project Orion
by George Dyson · first published 2001
11mentions
7recommended by
10HN commenters
2008–2023first – last mentioned
70% recommend30% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A well-written history of the nuclear-pulse Orion spaceship project, with detailed but accessible explanations of how its propulsion was meant to work. Suits readers curious about space engineering and Cold War tech.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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The book "Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship" by George Dyson is really fascinating. The Orion project was all done before the Apollo project was planned, so it is kindof an alternative way the US space program…
on “Research on fusion engine is AIAA Best Paper” ↗The book written by Freeman's son George Dyson is also very good: https://www.amazon.com/Project-Orion-Story-Atomic-Spaceship/... Alas there is no ebook and the print book is quite expensive. There is a documentary on Youtube from the BBC about it all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMcwVj0S6Ws
on “Interstellar nuclear-powered transport (1968) [pdf]” ↗_Project Orion_ by George Dyson is a decent book about the project. In addition to the historical narrative, it has some good and detailed (for a popularization, anyway) explanations of how the technology was supposed…
on “Project Orion is one of the stupidest, most wonderful ideas ever conceived in America.” ↗Have you had a look at Project Daedalus ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus Or Project Orion : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propuls... and the excellent book on Project Orion https://www.amazon.com/Project-Orion-Story-Atomic-Spaceship/...
on “'Oumuamua: An analysis of the debate regarding the first interstellar visitor” ↗Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship by George Dyson. A mindblowing vision and project of a vehicle that would offer the capability to truck TONS of stuff as far as, say Saturn, or offer speedy travel…
on “Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?” ↗…on 4,000 and 10,000 ton vehicles and the "Super" was an 8 million ton interstellar vehicle. The timing isn't so critical. It could handle a 10ms timing variation, and a misfire. George Dyson's book, Project Orion, is well written. That being the son of Freeman Dyson, who worked on the project.
on “NASA Proposal to Revive Nuclear Thermal Space Propulsion Development” ↗I also enjoyed "Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship" by Dyson. It's about another grand engineering project at the edge of possibility: Building spaceships powered by nuclear bombs that theoretically could lift whole…
on “Atlantropa” ↗…Personal Computer Revolution, by Lamont Wood. * The Soul of A New Machine, by Tracy Kidder. * Books by George Dyson (son of ...): Darwin Among the Machines, Turing's Cathedral. (unrelated, but also give Project Orion: The Atomic Spaceship a go) * The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley, by Leslie Berlin. * Richard Feynman Computer Heuristics Lecture at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWGGDXe5MA…
on “Ask HN: What are some great posts or articles about history of computing?” ↗…software package as "a code." Then you probably haven't been around physicists, or read enough physics-related material. A non-scholarly reference which can't be easily checked online is George Dyson's "Project Orion," where Freeman Dyson (author's father) is quoted as mentioning this or that "code" as significant for the design of various Orion parts. (That should be a native enough English speaker.) The time-frame…
on “Science needs more research software engineers” ↗My point is that you explicitly claimed that human interstellar travel is possible with current nuclear propulsion methods. Project Orion doesn't support this claim (since Dyson's models require a number of nuclear weapons several orders of magnitude larger that current stockpiles). Other similar projects don't support this claim either,…
on “How settling Mars could create a new human species” ↗George Dyson's book "Project Orion" book also mentions the topic, at https://archive.org/details/projectoriontrue0000dyso/page/88... . It describes Ted Taylor's recollection of discussions taking place around or slightly before 1960. >…
on “Sex in Space” ↗