Project orion

Post on 13-Apr-2017

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TRINITY - 16 July 1945 - Alamogordo, NM - 20 KT

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Ivy Mike - 31 October 1952 - Elugelab - 10.4 MT

Brigadier General Schriever addresses the Von Neumann Committee, fall 1955. Front row (left to right): George McRae, Charles Lindbergh, General Thomas Power, Trevor Gardner, John von Neumann, Colonel Harold Norton, H. Guyford Stever, and Clark Millikan.

“Whoever controls Orion will control the world...”

--General Thomas S. Power Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Air Command

Little Feller II - 7 July 1962 - Yucca Flats - .022 KT

NEVADA TEST SITE

UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE GRABLE - 25 May 1953 - Nevada - 15 KT

SEDAN - 6 July 1962 - Nevada Test Site - 104 KT

The enclosed paper is a partial answer to the question 'What does Christopher Robin do in the mornings?'... You will perhaps recognize the mixture of technical wisdom and political innocence with which we came to San Diego in 1958, as similar to the Los Alamos of 1943. You had to learn political wisdom by success, and we by failure. Often I do not know whether to be glad or sorry that we escaped the responsibilities of succeeding.

--F.J. Dyson to J.R. Oppenheimer, 17 March 1965

It was such a crazy idea, really.

One of those wonderful dreams...

Oh, but they had a good time in

California, and we went and visited

them once and saw one little puff!

The little thing went off and then

came back with a parachute, at Point

Loma... They had fun, but did they

really think that it would go?

--Francoise Ulam

THANKS (in alphabetical order) to:

Air Force Special Weapons CenterBruno Augenstein / RAND

Atomic Energy Commission / DOEJaromir Astl

General Atomic / General AtomicsJames R. Burke

Defense Technical Information CenterFreeman DysonDouglas Fouquet

Verena Huber-DysonInstitute for Advanced StudyLos Alamos National Laboratory

Scott Lowther / Aerospace Projects ReviewThomas Macken

NASA / JPL / MSFCChristopher Sykes / BBC

Theodore B. TaylorFrancoise Ulam

gdyson@ias.edu