Phobos Gas Station

An Orion pulsed-nuclear-powered spacecraft is refuelling with nuclear fuel on Phobos.

Lots of fun exploring this alternative reality – one that, incidentally, many US Air Force bigwigs were envisaging in the early 1960s with the Orion system. Perhaps even a little too much, in fact.

Under military control, this type of spacecraft would have served not only as an interplanetary exploration vessel, but also as the ultimate deterrent during the Cold War. A 4,000-tonne space battleship version – equipped with dozens of nuclear weapons – was even presented to President Kennedy and the Secretary of Defence on 23 March 1962. Kennedy’s horrified reaction apparently doomed project, even before the entire Orion concept was rendered obsolete by the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty