Re: starship-design: Plasma power

[Steve VanDevender <stevev@efn.org>]

Johnny Thunderbird writes:
 > I'm quite willing to ignore antimatter research until somebody shows up with
 > some to sell me. Like zero-point energy, vacuum energy and fairy dust, it
 > doesn't matter whether I believe the theory or not, for I won't encounter
 > any, so I refuse to waste my time thinking about it. I design things to be
 > built with the most plentiful and abundant materials, to raise the
 > probability they will really be constructed sometime.

Antimatter-catalyzed fusion uses relatively small amounts of antiprotons
to catalyze normal fusion.  From information other people have posted
about it here, I got the impression that the antiprotons can catalyze
many fusion reactions before being annihilated, which is why the amount
needed is fairly low, and the fusion can be obtained at lower
densities/pressures/temperatures than would otherwise be necessary.  As
the antiprotons could be produced using a particle accelerator, it's
actually somewhat compatible with your idea.