alt Hacker NewsFusion would be useless for launch to orbit. Even fission sucks for that. It's really hard to beat the cost and power density of chemical rockets.
Fusion would be useless for launch to orbit. Even fission sucks for that. It's really hard to beat the cost and power density of chemical rockets.
Depends. If we get explosive inertial confinement fusion to work you could build a pure fusion version of a nuclear pulse rocket. Look up Project Orion.
Orion (in its fission bomb form) is impractical and would be insane to launch from Earth, but it holds the title of being the only “torch ship” drive we know how to build. We could technically build it.