[Baron Munchausen]

Heh... actually, in space where there isn't as much material to transmit a shockwave it's not that inconceivable to survive a nuclear weapon as long as it's not a 'direct' hit -- detonation in actual contact with the ship.

And remember, scale is everything. What's the size of the warhead? Isn't it easier to load lots of small warheads (a few hundred kilotons?) on smaller missiles than to put the very biggest bomb you can make (50 megatons? 100 megatons?) on larger missiles? It's the usual trade-off: Smaller warheads are much more survivable individually but easier to get a hit with because you can launch more. Larger warheads might wipe out the target completely but with fewer of them available they can be more easily countered various measures.

There was a project in the late 1950s to build a space ship powered by nuclear bombs. Yes, bombs would be dropped out the back and a 'pusher plate' on the underside of the craft with enormous shock absorbers would take the bLast. It was called the Orion Project. Do a Google search for it and you'll find plenty of resources. It's had some recent attemtion due to the son of Freeman Dyson (who was a major contributor) writing a book about it.

[ July 13, 2002, 23:18: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]