I came across this and thought I would share it. Enjoy! :rofl:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/antimatter.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/antimatter.htm
How an Antimatter Spacecraft Will Work
- Thread starter WhiteWolf
- Start date
navywarlord
SOC-9
Lots of neat stuff
Pretty Cool -
Pretty Cool -
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Woo Hoo!
Curiously I think I saw about the same fantastic speed claim for solar sails. Simple, zero fuel, zero emission, practically doable now for a fraction of the cost. But I guess sailing just isn't as cool, as "Trekkie", as ANTI-MATTER ENGINES IN SPAAACE!
WHY?! Why do these articles keep leaping up with grand exclamations like "will take us far beyond our solar system" and "let us reach nearby stars" when the reality is not yet and not in the foreseeable future? Is the truth so bad? Does the hyperbole help the space program?
Give me a break.
Sci-fi is the only place we'll be visiting the stars the rate things are going and this doesn't help.
It'll be great IF it works for manned exploration, settlement, and exploitation of the solar system, but that's about it. Why not concentrate on that? Why even bother with the big false "to the stars" promise?
Not to rain on the parade, it is a cool link and all yes, but I dislike the science as sensation attitude that seems to be the norm too often.
So instead of about 100,000 YEARS to get to Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Sol it'll only take about 10,000 YEARS.
Curiously I think I saw about the same fantastic speed claim for solar sails. Simple, zero fuel, zero emission, practically doable now for a fraction of the cost. But I guess sailing just isn't as cool, as "Trekkie", as ANTI-MATTER ENGINES IN SPAAACE!
WHY?! Why do these articles keep leaping up with grand exclamations like "will take us far beyond our solar system" and "let us reach nearby stars" when the reality is not yet and not in the foreseeable future? Is the truth so bad? Does the hyperbole help the space program?
Give me a break.
Sci-fi is the only place we'll be visiting the stars the rate things are going and this doesn't help.
It'll be great IF it works for manned exploration, settlement, and exploitation of the solar system, but that's about it. Why not concentrate on that? Why even bother with the big false "to the stars" promise?
Not to rain on the parade, it is a cool link and all yes, but I dislike the science as sensation attitude that seems to be the norm too often.
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About the only way the political will will permit extra-solar missions is once there is FTL travel of some form. Otherwise, the durations are just too long.
Even the M/AM reaction Sublight isn't fast enough, though it may be powerful enough to supply a long duration ion drive. (AM is not inexpensive, but, pound per gigajoule, it's the most dense energy storage known... but the containment cuts into that something fierce.)
Even the M/AM reaction Sublight isn't fast enough, though it may be powerful enough to supply a long duration ion drive. (AM is not inexpensive, but, pound per gigajoule, it's the most dense energy storage known... but the containment cuts into that something fierce.)
