abstract:Nuclear pulse propulsion or external pulsed plasma propulsion, is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion that uses nuclear explosions for thrust. It was first developed as Project Orion by DARPA, after a suggestion by Stanislaw Ulam in 1947.
Theunmannedspace vehicle — inspired bynuclearpulsepropulsionstudies by the BritishInterplanetarySociety in the 1970s — will ideallyreachitstargetstar within 100 yearsafterlaunch.