TED Talks | A nuclear-powered rocket to Saturn

TED | Talks | George Dyson: Let's take a nuclear-powered rocket to Saturn (video)

This video talks about the first ARPA project (funded with $1 million to General Atomic) - which was to be used to build a nuclear powered spaceship that was to take Americans to either Saturn or Jupiter in the late 1960s. NASA didn't care for this project and at the end it was canceled. The US Air-force was the one pushing for the project as it did not just have applications in space flight but also in weapons systems.

Using nuclear bombs and directing their energy so as to be able to drive a vehicle is still an actively researched topic.