dcn@ihuxl.UUCP (Dave Newkirk) (12/06/83)
I too wish we could scrap all the nuclear weapons and turn them into starships, but Camp David agreements with the USSR would be worthless without any force to back it up. (The only reason we are still here is because we each have a gun to the other's head. That's how the MAD strategy works.) Maybe the threat of building a High Frontier type defense would force the Soviets to negotiate with some conviction? Dave Newkirk, ihnp4!ihuxl!dcn
gds@mit-eddie.UUCP (Greg Skinner) (12/08/83)
I, too, favor the use of nuclear technology in general for space exploration rather than arms. I always wondered why NASA didn't devote as much time and money as they did with the Apollo project to construct nuclear-powered spacecraft capable of (at least) exploration of our solar system, perhaps even to nearby stars. --greg ...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!gds
jsq@ut-sally.UUCP (John Quarterman) (12/11/83)
> >I, too, favor the use of nuclear technology in general for space >exploration rather than arms. I always wondered why NASA didn't devote >as much time and money as they did with the Apollo project to construct >nuclear-powered spacecraft capable of (at least) exploration of our >solar system, perhaps even to nearby stars. > >--greg >...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!gds > > Try *Disturbing the Universe* by Freeman Dyson, 1979, Harper & Row. A short answer: the nuclear test ban treaty and pollution. -- John Quarterman, CS Dept., University of Texas, Austin, Texas {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!jsq, jsq@ut-sally.{ARPA,UUCP}
gds@mit-eddie.UUCP (Greg Skinner) (12/11/83)
now that we have the space shuttle, and an orbital space station is in the works, we can now work on nuclear powered spacecraft without polluting the atmosphere. Idea: make it an orbital moon station, that way the nuclear waste will dissipate throughout space rather than get pulled back to earth. about polluting the universe, well ... maybe cleaner nuke-powered devices can be built.