The Golden Age of Atomic Power in Space
being possible. But the calculations that some of the Orioners made were based on a faulty premise. They didn't take into account the possibility of a lunar orbit and then going down with a very light-weight vehicle.
LW: But the technology doesn't compare to the Orion concept. Where do you think we could be if it had been implemented?
Dunne: Dyson and Taylor were primarily interested in exploring the planets, particularly Mars and the rings of Saturn. Dyson envisioned trips to the outer planets, very big expeditions with very, very big payloads. That was their immediate goal, and they would have liked to do it in their lifetimes.
LW: So what happened?
Dunne: Orion was cancelled because it was the fly in the ointment of the nuclear test ban. Of course, there were also arguments that national resources shouldn't be spent on such a ridiculously wild, fantastic idea.
Author's note: On August 5, 1963, the Unites States, Britain and the U.S.S.R. signed a treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in space, in the atmosphere and under water.
LW: What about toxic effects, nuclear fallout, that kind of thing?
Dunne: I long have felt that the proper place for Orion is on the moon. But the political and economic view of the project was directed to lifting payloads off the earth. This was, of course, before we went to the moon and before there were any big rockets for lifting, even by chemical means. The idea of setting up a lunar city was so far out, so much in the arena of fantasy, that people couldn't take that and then add to it an Orion base. It was just too much for people to think about.
LW: What are the advantages?
Dunne: You get away from the hazards of going through the atmosphere and the designs of the ships are much simpler.
LW: So you would build the ships on the moon?
Dunne: Yes. You can envision a lunar base with manufacturing facilities of major proportions. I've advocated this for years, and I never could get much response from either Taylor or Dyson. I think it was because they were so interested in near term development. Taylor was very strong on that. In his own time he wanted to see these things fly. I think that (a lunar base) is really the future development of Orion. It may take somewhere up in the 2020s, 2050s, 2070s to do it, but I think eventually
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