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Homer Hickam Speaks Out For Fission Rockets

Posted by michael on from the riding-the-torch dept.

jonerik writes: "Former NASA engineer Homer Hickam (perhaps best known for his 1998 memoir "Rocket Boys," which was turned into the 1999 motion picture "October Sky") has this article in Technology Review in which he advocates that the U.S. revive its nuclear rocket program of the '50s and '60s, arguing that nuclear-powered rockets are the only realistic way of opening up the rest of the solar system - particularly Mars - to human exploration."

1 of 403 comments (clear)

  1. It seems we really are afraid of fear itself! by bertok · · Score: 0, Troll

    It seems that nuclear powered rockets are a great idea, but NASA seems to be balking at the idea because they're afraid that the general population is going to be afraid. There is no real danger of course, but that doesn't seem to factor into the equation. Has NASA even tried to actualize a fission rocket, just to test the waters? Just how bad can the protest be in face of hard scientific fact? After all, the Cassini launch had greenies protesting too, but when I saw it on the news, it was something like a few dozen people outside the gates. Is that all that's stopping NASA? A bunch of doped out hippies camping outside a barbed-wire fence manned by armed security guards? I hope not...