Solid or Metastable Metallic Hydrogen as fuel

[Anthony]

Did Marc ever say if Fusion power in Traveller was Hot Fusion or Cold Fusion ( jury is still out on that one, I know)? I seem to remember that Fusion+ in T4 was cold fusion.

Given the time Traveller was written, the concept of it being anything but hot fusion would be foreign, and certainly fusion guns and fusion drives are hot fusion. The jury isn't still out on cold fusion; it's quite clearly bogus (at least, in the real universe. Traveller-style nuclear dampers could plausibly enable cold fusion).

 

[jwdh71]

Actually "Cold Fusion" isn't bogus, the experiments have been replicated, and residue of the fusion process was discovered in the tests, just that theory and the main-stream scientific opinion haven't caught up yet. There is SOMETHING going on, but no one seems to be able to pin down quite what exactly is happening.

Be that as it may, I recall that, back in the day, someone had calculated the efficiency of Travellers fusion plants as something totally abysmal, based on how much fuel was used vs. how much power came out. Don't recall the exact numbers, but it was bad, on the order of low double digit (10%-20%) or lower.

 

[Anthony]

Actually "Cold Fusion" isn't bogus, the experiments have been replicated, and residue of the fusion process was discovered in the tests, just that theory and the main-stream scientific opinion haven't caught up yet. There is SOMETHING going on, but no one seems to be able to pin down quite what exactly is happening.

There's something odd going on, but the evidence is that whatever is going on isn't fusion, and doesn't seem to be terribly interesting or useful. It's either experimental error or a poorly studied chemical reaction.

Be that as it may, I recall that, back in the day, someone had calculated the efficiency of Travellers fusion plants as something totally abysmal, based on how much fuel was used vs. how much power came out. Don't recall the exact numbers, but it was bad, on the order of low double digit (10%-20%) or lower.

I worked out numbers above. Given canon statements about power levels, a High Guard power plant, consuming 1 dton/month for a power output of 250 MW, has an efficiency of 0.1%.

 

[rlmercad069]

Thanks for the link, Spank. Nice to see I'm on the same wavelength with someone. I'd completly forgotten about Slush Tankage.

AT, not sure you wouldn't get the same thing with LHyd on a standard ship. One good hit to the tanks and ....BOOM !!

I'm thinking maybe Pellets or Slugs of fuel as well. We are already postulating that you can have fuel purifiers that can seperate and liquify hydrogen on 100ton ships at TL12-13. Who knows what is possible at higher Tech Levels

Here's a link that works out Slush fuel: http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/shipyard/densefuel.html

The max you could gain is 20%, but that doesn't include upgraded purifiers to condense the fuel. And it's a real pleasure to meet you all.