“This is a drawing showing a large troop carrying Ithacus rocket being launched from the aft deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the Enterprise class. Ithacus is a Douglas Aircraft Company concept of a rocket which could transport 1,200 troops or 132 tons of cargo at 17,000 mph to any point on earth. Another Ithacus is poised on the fore deck in this illustration. The carrier deck provides a floating launch pad.
The smaller 'Ithacus Jr.' version would have had an intercontinental cargo capability of 33.5t or 260 soldiers. Douglas proposed to launch two Ithacus Jr. vehicles from an Enterprise-class nuclear aircraft carrier, which also would have produced liquid oxygen and hydrogen propellant from seawater. Power for the electrolysis process would have been taken from the carrier's nuclear reactor: 112MW would have been required to produce 1150t of oxygen and 164t of hydrogen from 1470t of water. The rocketships would be stored inside hangars. One Ithacus Jr. would serve as a troop carrier while the other would deploy unmanned cargo to the same military site. The Ithacus Jr. vehicles would land 600 meters apart to deploy a fully armed group of 260 soldiers.”
Douglas Aircraft Co. photo, poss. no. G-13, circa 1965
fut-ITHACUS_v_bw_o_n
