This article doesn’t mention it but this sounds like the fissile material also undergoes fission either as plasma or as part of what makes it plasma, making thi

This article doesn’t mention it but this sounds like the fissile material also undergoes fission either as plasma or as part of what makes it plasma, making this like an “inboard” externally driven version of Project Orion (the bomb pogo stick idea, which on paper is workable). This, Orion, and the nuclear salt water rocket seem like three actual “torch ship” engines that could theoretically be built with current technology. Nothing as loony as the Epstein Drive from The Expanse or the antimatter rockets from Avatar but able to get around the solar system way faster than any chemical rocket.