In the 1990’s, into the early 2000’s, NASA gave a few brief looks at Orion-style nuclear pulse propulsion. A few papers on the concept were published, but it does not appear that a great deal of real engineering effort was expended. Given the political impossibility of an Orion in the Clinton years and the diplomatic nightmare than an Orion would have been post 9/11, it’s hardly surprising that the NASA efforts were low level and apparently led to little.
Some artwork was produced. Generally computer generated, and generally reproduced at relatively low resolution, only a little can be gleaned from these pieces. The design shown below uses Transhab technology for the crew compartment and, unlike every known vintage Orion design, it has substantial radiator area. This presumably was for an internal nuclear reactor. If the Transhab used here is the same 8.2 meter diameter as the standard Transhab design, this indicates that the pusher plate is probably smaller than the 10 meter design.
In a conversation on Winchell Chung’s G+ here Luke Campbell suggests this is a Mini-Mag Orion, rather than the conventional Orion Nuclear Pulse. Just curious which it may be.
Doesn’t really look much like a Mini-Mag Orion. Those generally are depicted as having a magnetic “nozzle,” rather than a plate. And while the resolution is too poor and the angle is unfortunate, this looks more like a plate. Of course, when it comes to hastily assembled promo-art, a lot of hand-waving can be involved. One of the papers I’ve seen use this piece of art was about *ion* engines, so…
CORRECTION: I looked up the few MMO illustrations and references I have. They depicted a much-reduced shock absorber system compared to what’s in this illustration. Additionally, the MMO nozzle was 20 meters or so in diameter, which would *seem* to perhaps be out of scale for this (but perspective makes it challenging to be sure).
Also: the”Mini-Art” refers to the distressingly small scale of the illustration. I prefer to post stuff that’s of reasonably meaningful resolution, but something the best you’ve got is not much better than a postage stamp.