Anti-Matter

[mike wightman]

Originally posted by Kaale Dasar:
Where does it say that its hydrogen fuel?

It mentions in every version of Traveller that hydrogen is used as fuel for the jump drive.

Also, in one of the CT books it says that with drop tanks the fuel is used and then the drop tanks are dropped

T20 goes as far as giving numbers to jump fuel usage - 80% is "burned" while the remainder is used to maintain the jump machinery during the week in jump.

At the early TLs of its introduction antimatter could be used to initiate the fusion reaction that the jump needs - antimatter catalysed fusion. At the higher TLs matter-antimatter energy conversion may take over from the fusion rection.

 

[Laryssa]

How about Jump Bombs, they are thermonuclear devices with one use only jump drive built into them, they are much more compact than regular jump drive, and you can place them on missiles, you fire the missiles and you can either target your own ship or some other, and when then detonate, instead of an explosion they suck a volume of surrounding space into jump space. The Jump drive bomb gets destroyed in the process by the extreme curvatures in space that it produces around itself, but the target is some distance from that and survives the trip unharmed.

 

[travlar]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Kaale Dasar:
Where does it say that its hydrogen fuel?

It mentions in every version of Traveller that hydrogen is used as fuel for the jump drive.
</font>[/QUOTE]Sorry, I meant where does it say that it has to be hydrogen fuel?

 

[mike wightman]

Ahh, I understand - I think.

Is your idea to use something else entirely to power the jump drive? Fission reactors like those already mentioned, or the solar energy collectors of Annic Nova fame perhaps?

Different races/cultures may have invented vey different versions - we know the early Terran version was a fuel hog, and the Hiver jump drive could only be used a few times before it suffered meltdown.
A bit of variety could be interesting...

 

[Savar]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Ahh, I understand - I think.

Is your idea to use something else entirely to power the jump drive? Fission reactors like those already mentioned, or the solar energy collectors of Annic Nova fame perhaps?

A bit of variety could be interesting...

that is what my thought was at the time of starting the post

 

[Andrew Boulton]

...yeah, but where are you gonna get 50dt of refined flobdinium?

 

[mike wightman]

Same place you get lanthanum jump coils, lanthanum hull grids, and zuchai crystals

 

[Icosahedron]

My 2Cr, for what it's worth:

I figured the Jump drive needs a large energy burst to work. I figured a fission reactor would be too big and bulky for its energy output to create a jump field around it.

Real Science bit:
Anti- matter drives (properly, Matter-Antimatter reactors) work by reacting Hydrogen and Anti-Hydrogen together. You need both, in equal quantities, but the reaction is up to 100 times more powerful than a fusion reaction, depending on reactor efficiency. Hydrogen you can get anywhere, Anti-Hydrogen cannot be bought and is issued or stolen from Naval depots...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Of course, even if the reaction is 100 times stronger, you still have to convert the energy to something akin to electricity and run it down some wires. The reaction simply being stronger only means your ship makes a brighter flare before being vaporized when your containment fails.

 

[Pickles]

Myself, now, I just use the stuff in reaction manoeuvre drives. I may have mentioned this before, but I like to see some exhaust coming out of those nozzles at the back of every OTU starship ...

 

[mike wightman]

The antimatter drive may have just got a little bit closer to reality:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10302&feedId=online-news_rss20

And Bromgrev, I agree with you, hence IMTU the maneuver drive uses an inertial mass reduction field and a plasma rocket...