Directional nuclear reaction

Question

Is there a strong enough substance that could overcome the heat and pressure of a nuclear blast, while also directing that blast? Lets say with a concave structure attached to pod?

I want to know, firstly if this is possible and there is a substance that can withstand the heat and pressures a nuclear device admits, or if not and that substance does not exists, what substance would we need to invent and what properties would that substance have?

Keep in mind that this would need to work in the vacuum of space.

Lastly, the pod can be any shape and mass.

Answer 1

Sorry Luke,

Nuclear devices generate plasma products with temperatures well above the vaporization temperature of elements and compounds! If you're setting off a device in the atmosphere (or underwater), the blast eventually attenuates adiabatically with distance such that vaporization would not be a problem per se, BUT the pressure wave would destroy things in the path. In space, there would be no attenuation with distance, since the plasma would not be doing work on the surroundings! So, you would need to channel your fission (or fusion) products using magnetic fields, not physical barriers (even ablating ones).

Of course, science fiction authors have postulated that a flow-through squeeze/fusion device (ram-scoop) could be used, at sufficient initial speeds, to power space travel. But you'd have a problem using that for braking, since you would have to direct the exhaust forward. Possible with jet engine exhaust, but more difficult to maneuver a plasma similarly!