GLOMAR EXPLORER

NUCLEAR THERMAL ROCKET

Glomar Explorer was used in the re-core program of the Nuclear Thermal Rocket Program. 

When an NTR is launched from Vandenberg. The upper stage NTR booster would then come back to Earth splashing down. This when Glomar would pick it up for reuse. 

This was when Glomar would pick it up for reuse. 

"The Glomar Explorer, a project of Hughes Aircraft, Global Marine, and Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, was designed for ocean mining. A sort of vacuum cleaner reaches down two or three miles to pick up nodules from the ocean floor. This has been done in test operations under ocean west and southwest of Hawaii. (Johnson & Smith, 1985)"

Johnson, C.L. and Smith, M. (1985) Kelly: More than my share of it all. Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press.