High velocity launch into space from Earth surface
Unlike a steel plate, a nuclear re-entry vehicle like shape with a carbon carbon nose will make it into space if launched below the velocity at which the nose will fail due to atmospheric stagnation pressure. A semi-sophisticated ablating vehicle model shows that a carbon carbon cone designed to be aerodyamically stable even with nose ablation, weighing 1000 kg, with a 76 cm base diameter and a 380 cm length, launched at 13 km/s at sea level will leave the atmosphere somewhat above escape velocity of 11.5 km/s. The nose ablation will be roughly 25 cm.