Matt wrote:
Project Pluto was dropped because, among other reasons, there was no
safe way to test the thing under actual flight conditions. Likewise,
you could not test this engine until it was well out in space, and
what if it didn't work?

They did test the TORY engine out on the ground, and it did work as
advertised.
There's a Discovery Wings episode about it, and when they show the view
up the back end of the reactor as it goes critical and starts glowing
yellow-white hot as the air is blown through it (the air was stored
under high pressure in a huge array of high-strentgh steel pipes) it's
really something to see. They photographed it by having the camera on
the far side of a radiation-proof wall and aimed at a mirror that faced
the exit nozzle of the engine.
If they did get around to tests, plans were to have the missile fly
around out over the ocean, and either crash into the ocean at the end of
the mission, or dive into a lake some ways inland for retrival.


You've shot your program budget. In any
event, emitting radiation into the atmosphere of another body is
bound to raise a storm of protest.

Titanic Titanian Methane Muskies are bad enough...exposure to radiation
could create Terrifiying Titanic Titanian Mutant Methane Muskies, and
that's the last thing our solar system needs.

Pat