This BBC documentary, titled “To Mars By A-Bomb – The Secret History of Project Orion“, is one of the most fascinating 60 minute films I’ve seen so far this year. It tells the story of Project Orion, an incredible Cold War project to launch a 10,000 tonne spacecraft into space by setting off small yield nuclear bombs underneath it.
It sounds like science fiction but in the late 1950s, this was a serious program run by NASA, and it came a lot closer to happening than many people realise. The project was run by George Dyson who features heavily in this documentary, telling the history of the still partially classified NASA program in his own words.
If you like this sort of thing I suggest you grab a strong cup of coffee and hit play, you’ll be glad you did.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
The MV Agusta three-cylinder, known as the Tre Cilindri, was ridden by Giacomo Agostini to 13 of his 15 World Championship titles between 1966 and 1973. MV Agusta had started with a 350cc version of the three-cylinder in 1965, this engine would be expanded to 500cc for 1966, allowing the Italian company to challenge both the 350cc…
This series of anti-pollution masks from Rare Bird London were developed to both look good, and provide a UK Ministry of Defence military-grade air filter that can be worn everyday. The user-replaceable filter is a 100% pure activated carbon cloth with sub-micron filtration capability to block out particles down to the 2.5 micron size range….
The De Tomaso Pantera GT5 was, in some respects, the blue-collar version of the Lamborghini Countach. Both cars featured a sweeping wedge-shaped profile, big wings, flared wheel aches, roaring engines and more horsepower than half a dozen family sedans. When new, the Countach cost over $100,000 (in 1980s money) and required a king’s ransom in…
The Austin-Healey 100 The Austin-Healey 100 is one of the most beautiful British cars of its time, in fact I’d go so far as to say that it’s one of the most beautiful cars of its time regardless of origin. Amazingly the designer behind the low, sweeping roadster wasn’t actually a designer and he had…
This short film shows what went into building a car engine back in the 1930s, including casting, forging, machining, assembly, and testing. It’s a remarkable look back at how it was done before the robots took over, the amount of hand work required is impressive – as is the somewhat casual nature of the safety…
The Airfix Combustion Engine Kit is a model engine powered by batteries that has red lights in the spark plugs to show firing order. It works mechanically just like a real engine, with a crankshaft and cam, conrods and pistons, rocker arms and valves. It’s driven by a small electric motor that requires 3 x…
