05-19-2013, 08:31 AM
Rynn - IMHO that is the whole point. Orion would be incredibly efficient in terms of use of resources. Most of the cost of present-day space travel is due to the need to shave as much mass as possible off the vehicles and their equipment; this is in turn due to the fact that getting to space at all using chemical fuel and propellant (which aren't quite the same thing, but let's leave that) is marginal at best and necessitates multi-stage launchers - which means huge expense.
Orion-drive spacecraft would probably look fairly crude, because the necessity for shaving grams off the equipment just wouldn't be there. The difference is a little like the difference between an F1 car and a heavy goods lorry.
In addition, cheap space travel leaves open the possibility of obtaining resources that would help the world's economy immensely. To take one example, some of the asteroids are essentially made of billions of tons of high-grade steel.
Orion-drive spacecraft would probably look fairly crude, because the necessity for shaving grams off the equipment just wouldn't be there. The difference is a little like the difference between an F1 car and a heavy goods lorry.
In addition, cheap space travel leaves open the possibility of obtaining resources that would help the world's economy immensely. To take one example, some of the asteroids are essentially made of billions of tons of high-grade steel.