Nuclear Rocket (The) - by James Dewar with Robert Bussard

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This book presents a fundamentally different way of thinking about the space program and the role of nuclear rockets in it, arguing they require an infrastructure to become truly effective, an infrastructure that democratizes it and opens space up to the common man. That must be the goal of a reconstituted program, not some kind of mission and not some scramble to a lunar base or manned mission to Mars. Those will come later, when conditions on earth are ripe for them, when all citizens can participate in their funding and profit from the conduct. Indeed, with a nuclear rocket, all citizens now can have personal access to space through a "free launch" program. The inevitable result of this would be massive amounts of cheap clean, energy from space. Robert W. Bussard, the father of the nuclear rocket, says in his introduction, that this book is the first outline of a space program that really might succeed. It is based on private funding, not public. No one has put forth ideas like this and it will lead to debate and dialogue on the real utility, scope and purpose of the space program.