Nuclear Aircraft Engine, Project Pluto

Ive seen a few questions lately regarding nuclear aircraft engines and this is the only one I know of that was extremely reliable and efficient and the only possible engine that I beliueve could power an aircraft. in 1957 the US Air Force started project pluto. They needed an engine that could operate at high altitude and at super fast speeds. They ended up with a nuclear ramjet engine with exhaust gases at 2500 deg F. I saw this program on the discovery channel, and not only was the engine amazing, but also the support structure and refrigeration plant. Check out tons of info here.

www.merkle.com...

Train

you have to adore the way they drew things in the 50's. there's such an innocence about the lines and the way they drew rockets. anyway back to the topic in hand....

Im surprised no one else has replied. Does this type of engine interest anyone here or is everyone only interested in boring fan blades and spinning compressor blades?

Come on here, we're talking about a NUCLEAR ramjet engine, wow!

Does anyone know about any other secret nuclear engine projects?

Train

Train,

I started a thread on this very Project 9 months ago here
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Not popular then either

Another one that might interest you is Project Orion
www.abovetopsecret.com...

It proposed using atomic explosions to propel space ships

Thanks Fred, I dont understand the lack of response. I thought that this topic would be huge here on ATS. I mean this was a nuc reactor that could fit inside a jet engine sized peice of equipment.

Originally posted by BigTrain
Thanks Fred, I dont understand the lack of response. I thought that this topic would be huge here on ATS. I mean this was a nuc reactor that could fit inside a jet engine sized peice of equipment.

Not quite the missile was pretty big. But the side effects of it were pretty bad. From its highly radioactive trail to the Mach 3 at sea level sonic bomb that could destroy building and actually kill people

It was a cool project though

BTW: Everything is still there at Jackass Flats from the heating system to simulate high mach flight to the train that took the Tory reactors to and from the test stand.

[edit on 3/15/05 by FredT]

Well, it was developed for one reason fred, destroy the soviet union incase of war. I'd say it would have done exactly that.

Originally posted by BigTrain
Well, it was developed for one reason fred, destroy the soviet union incase of war. I'd say it would have done exactly that.

Yeah, but what happens to the friendly countries you have to fly over to get there

To answer you're question about lack of interest, IMHO I think that with all the discussion of things residing well outside the norm ( you know aliens, conspiracies, satan's planet is coming towards earth ) it's hard to get the same folk to talk about the conventional. Don't get me wrong I think it's a worthy topic, and really wish I had more to contribute towards it

Anyhoo, back to this; I would have thought that research into this kind of thing would have maybe turned in the direction of fusion powered vehicles....but then again I'll be the first admit how little I know of this topic. Maybe you guys can shed some light on this...cheers!!!

Yeah I hear you, check out my nanoenergetics thread. Could Project Pluto be resurrected with this technology making the platform feasable? And clean too boot.

Nanoenergetics

Originally posted by sardion2000
Yeah I hear you, check out my nanoenergetics thread. Could Project Pluto be resurrected with this technology making the platform feasable? And clean too boot.

Nanoenergetics

Interesting point. You do have to wonder. A clean "Project Pluto" would make it a bit more paletable. However, a weapon like that would not be needed toaday, but a recon bird travaling at high mach numbers and that could stay up for weeks is a whole nother story

Well I was thinking more along the lines of a new platform to get to LEO. Two stage re-usable, in the same style as say SS1. It could work.