starship-design: Re: Calculations involving self-powered relativistic spaceflight

[A West <andrew@hmm.u-net.com>]

OK, last letter about this :)

Now that I finally got some more time, I had a proper look at your page,
and there's one or two things I want to ask you :)

I can do most of the maths on the page (not too hot on integration though
:), but there is something I'm not sure of:
What does exp mean - it follows an integration a couple of times.. is
something to do with e^x?

How would you go about calulating the Fuel Factor for a conventional
rocket? I don't know what the reaction is, but if I did, I could work it
out for myself, but I can't find the reaction anywhere :)
Anti-Proton catalysed fission: seeing as how it releases 16 neutrons
instead of 2, I don't suppose I can just multiply the energy released by 8
to work out the fuel factor?

And lastly: do you know of any links to anything to do with plasma engines
in general? I can only find information on specific types on engine, and I
was looking for something more generalised...
Also, I have converted that Pascal program into C++ if you want a copy - I
like to do things myself to see how they work properly :)

Andrew West