I love project Orion. But, let's be honest, it will never overcome the politics of Earth. For as far in the future as we can see, nuclear weapons will be a tricky issue. Putting a few thousands of them on a spaceship will be (and it currently is) against international treaties. And for good reason: how would you feel about an entity (either a government, or a private corporation like SpaceX) say that they intend to manufacture a few hundred thousand nuclear bombs, but, you know, pinky promise, they will never be used for anything else but space travel?
I read The Starship and the Canoe after it was mentioned in a reply to me [1], what a great book.
The theoretical physicist father, Freeman Dyson, champion of Orion, pretty much said that the idea was crazy and he wouldn't have pursued it further by the 70s IIRC. Of course, other scientists' options may have differed.
I would trust them as much as I trust Pakistan to not use theirs on India an vice- versa. What's another thousand bombs when we have so many already, and they're not even the peaceful spaceship kind of bombs?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propuls...
8 million tons to orbit in one lauch. Mindboggling.