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The nuclear option

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Deep-Space Probes

Part of the book series: Space Exploration ((SPACEE))

Abstract

Noted space visionary Arthur C. Clarke succeeds, in the short quote above, in succintly summarising the quandary of those who seek to apply nuclear-fission technology to space travel. Even though their hearts may be pure and their goals justified, the simple fact that their methods were used first to kill hundreds of thousands of humans at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and later to fuel the long mock peace of the Cold War, insures a vast reservoir of public distrust directed towards the nuclear scientists.

The dream of flight was one of the noblest and one of the most disinterested of all man’s aspirations. Yet it led in the end to that B-29 driving in passionless beauty toward the city whose name it was to sear on the conscience of the world.

Arthur C. Clarke, The Promise of Space (1968)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. General Studies Program, New York University, New York, USA

    Dr Gregory L. Matloff

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  1. Dr Gregory L. Matloff
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© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Matloff, G.L. (2000). The nuclear option. In: Deep-Space Probes. Space Exploration. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3641-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3641-5_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-3643-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3641-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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