Nuclear ground-orbit vehicle

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by raniE

Do you think anyone would go for nuclear powered spaceplanes though? Or would the fear of catastrophic failure put a stop to any such plans?

Fission? Not going to happen. The requirement for radioactive power-plant (to heat the reaction mass) fuel kills the idea. Blowing up the fission-nuclear-plane spreads radioactive material all over the place.

Fusion? Maybe. My understanding is that a fusion device is 'safer', though I could easily be wrong. At the very least it's probable fuel (Hydrogen) is lighter-than-air and so won't be a fallout concern in case of plane destruction.