The Flying Crowbar [Project Pluto: nastiest weapon ever conceived?]

Air & Space Magazine ^ | April/May 1990 | Gregg Herken

[LibWhacker]

An oldie but goodie.

[saganite]

A space based nuclear engine is exactly what we need for efficient space exploration. Barring that, a nuclear power source for deep space exploration would increase the power available for instruments on probes exponentially. Unfortunately the Prometheus project has been put on hold so we can fund another manned flight to the moon.

[pcottraux]

Ping.

[Rakkasan1]

cool.

we were making this awesome years ago yet we're supposed to believe we can't safely drill for oil in ANWR or use more nuclear power for the grid.

[Tennessee_Bob]

And Coors is still in the ceramics industry - has been for a long long time. Their beer sucks, but their technical ceramics rules :)

[NonValueAdded]

bump

[43north]

This is a prime example of "Just because you can build something doesn't mean that you should."

Still, this is how technology marches on.

[Sax]

...no way of guaranteeing that Pluto would not become a nuclear-powered juggernaut beyond its inventors' control -- a kind of airborne Frankenstein, a flying Chernobyl.

That would be a rather large "Oops."

[DK Zimmerman]

Uh, this was a ramjet. Where you gonna get air for it in space?

[saganite]

I wasn't talking about this project. The project I'm referring to is/was named Prometheus.

[balch3]

This is thinly disguised environmentalist whacko propaganda, designed to make nuclear power seem dangerous in the sheeple's mind. If we had gone ahead with this weapon, no telling what kind of technology we would have today.

[G.Mason]

"There was, admits Hadley, no way of guaranteeing that Pluto would not become a nuclear-powered juggernaut beyond its inventors' control -- a kind of airborne Frankenstein, a flying Chernobyl."

That's right Hadley. Especially since Chernobyl would happen until April 1986.

[shekkian]

Ahh yes, those adventurous Cold War days.

[Sundog]

I second that motion.

About the same time the XB-70 and the supporting fighter project were underway, and astonishing treachery killed those.

(We could really have done a number on North Vietnam with a pluto rocket.)

[BadAndy]

Major TJ Kong- Well boys, we got three engines out, we got more holes in us than a horse trader's mule, the radio is gone and we're leaking fuel and if we was flying any lower why we'd need sleigh bells on this thing... but we got one little budge on those Roosskies. At this height why they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain't gonna spot us on no radar screen!

Major Kong was down to earth, smart, loyal, funny, brave, independant, and goal driven. The epitomy of a true American.

[Logophile]

For some at Livermore, a lingering nostalgia about Pluto remains. "It was the best six years of my life," says William Moran, who oversaw the production of the Tory fuel elements. Chuck Barnett, who directed the Tory tests, succinctly sums up the gung-ho spirit at the lab: "I was young. We had lots of money. It was very exciting."

Gung-ho indeed.

That was a time when men were men, women were women, and young American engineers found excitement developing exotic weaponry.

[lesser_satan]

I'm at a loss for words to describe how cool this is. Thanks for posting.

[al baby]

I got my Prometheus stuck in my zipper once

[saganite]

I have Dr Strangelove on DVD and the special features has a great section about how Slim Pickens was actually an afterthought for the role of Major Kong. It's a good thing they found him. He was one of the highlights of the movie.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

I got my Prometheus stuck in my zipper once

That's what you get for fooling with that new fangled technology. Buttons and drawstrings worked just fine with no such attendent danger. Now if you got your Prometeus caught in a button hole.....? Nah, couldn't happen! Could it??