Re: starship-design: Antiproton Catalyzed Microfission/Fusion Engines andPathfinder class ships

[lindberg@olywa.net (Lindberg)]

Lee,
the info on the properties of various light-element reactions was very
nice, thanks.  A question - how does an antiproton-catalyzed
microfission/fusion engine work? A picture is worth a thousand words, so a
link to a website (if it exists) explaining it would be better than a long,
difficult text-only explanation via email. Also, how is the ACMF superior
to the fusion rocket described for the "explorer" class starship on the LIT
site? -Nels Lindberg
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>There seem to be a lot of new members on the group and I have condensed some
>of the ideas I have posted with some supporting evidence as well as a new
>conclusion for their benefit.
>
>As most of you who have been here awhile know, I currently believe that the
>ACMF engine is the most likely candidate for spacecraft propulsion for the
>next twenty or thirty years. I have been studying the limited information
>available on the engine in an attempt to define a ship around it. The first
>thing I have considered is total dry mass requirements of the exploratory
>vessel in order to compare them with the payload mass fraction of the ICAN
>II concept vehicle which was based on a single ACMF engine.
>
>The table below gives the mass distribution of the ICAN vehicle.
>
>In short, even the ACMF engine is not going to get us to the stars in any
>reasonable length of time. It seems we are going to have to wait for
>antimatter engines or some exotic concept not yet invented. Sigh.
>
>Lee Parker