🚀 go-pugleaf

ganderson@nebula.decnet.lockheed.com wrote:
> Henry Spencer's ramscope talk sparked a question in my small mind.  How can
> we talk about the performance of antimatter propulsion without knowing
> the mass fuel ratio? How much hardware does it take to contain a "tank" of
> antimatter (magnetic fields, etc.)?  Does anyone have the input required
> for insertion into the rocket equation???
> 
You're just using the antimatter to heat hydrogen, so the rocket's 
efficiency is of the same order as the Nerva nuclear design: Isp = 850-1500
or so, depending on how well it can be engineered.

Robert Forward claims that the storage requirements of anti-H2 are modest
if you use low enough temperatures and store it in solid form.  Annihilation
only occurs at the surface of the solid and can be controlled.

I think we already had this discussion......

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