hardtech

nuclear

my high school history teacher was obsessed /with declassified military tech and love diggin up stuff like this on saturdays. that’s how i found nuclear-powered flight (this film covers 1956–1958): a bomber powered by a reactor, meant to fly for months. it almost worked!

declassified video: https://x.com/whatisnuclear/status/1886397754143867189
as kelly johnson (skunk works) once said “you don’t get to pick your problems. reality does.”
the 1950s engineers weren't wrong. they were just early. 

some takeaways
⚛️ nuclear-powered flight (1956–1958)
why it almost worked. why it failed. why now is the time to build again.
🛫 beginning — vision phase
first principle: eliminate refueling + foreign bases with infinite-range flight.
top 3 factors:
cold war urgency → nuclear bomber concept
multi-agency alignment: aec, air force, ge, oak ridge
big budget → fast prototyping
🌀 flywheel:
big vision → funding → parallel r&d acceleration

continued ⤵

a film update on a bomber by a reactor in the 1950s was recently declassified. it was meant to fly for months. it almost worked, but we don't see it around today. 

see cast for more ⤵