Propulsion Performance Statistics
Statistics for various kinds of Propulsion Technology used in the Orion Arm

Modosophont Ship Drive Stats (Typical Mass fraction 0.5 to .98)

Type Isp delta-v, km/sec Thrust
to Weight
Chemical
rocket


Cryogenic 400+ 10 100
Stable 200+ 8 80
Hybrid 500+ 12 120
Stellar
Thermal		 200 5 1000
Photo-electric
(Ion)		 ~2000 30 .001
Chemical
Photon


Standard 450+ 15 20
Stellar ~9000 100 .0001
Internal
Fission


Solid 800+ 20 30
Liquid 1800+ 50 80
Plasma ~8000 100 50
External
Pulsed Plasma


Basic ~5000 60 5
Developed ~20,000 180 20
Advanced ~100,000 800 100
External Fission/Fusion


Basic Fission ~30,000 200 200
Fission/Fusion ~1000,000 5000 300
Internal Fission


Basic ~1000,000 8000 100
Advanced ~3000,000 30,000 500

Proportion of Selected Drive Types used in 10600 AT

Drive Inner Sphere Middle Regions Outer Volumes
Various Low S: 0.5% 3% 4%
Antimatter Drive 0.1% 3% 4%
Conversion Drive 16% 7% 3%
Conversion Ramjet 39% 45% 41%
Displacement Drive 4% 3% 1.4%
Halo Drive 6% 1% 0.5%
Voidships 1% 1% 0.1%

Typical Performance Parameters

<
Drive Cruise velocity Max Velocity Range, LY Typical Acceleration Notes
Various Low S: 0.01c 0.1c 25 0001-10g Fission, Fusion, Amat catalysed, etc.
Antimatter Drive 0.2c 0.7c 100 1-20g Early Conversion Drive
Conversion Drive 0.84c 0.88 c 200 1-50g Monopole Fusion
Conversion Ramjet 0.84 c 0.96 c 10,000+ 1-20g Monopole Ramjet
Displacement Drive 0.84 c 0.98 c 1000 1-100g Reactionless
Halo Drive 0.84 c 0.99 c 5000 1-1000g Reactionless, g-compensated
Void Ships 0.999+ c ? 0.999+ c ? 5000+ c ? 1000+g Reactionless, g and relativity compensated

Relativistic Distortion

The following shows the amount of distortion in length, mass, and time, that occurs in a ship travelling at non-relativistic, sub-relativistic, and relativistic velocity (as indicated by percentage of c - the speed of light). The closer to the speed of light a ship is, the greater the Lorentz contraction, hence the more compressed the ship appears to an external observer.
Relativistic Mass also increases, as does time dilation, but rest mass remains constant. So for a 100 meter long vessel travelling at 95% of c its length (along the axis of movement) to an external observer would be 31 meters, its relativistic mass would have increased almost 3 times, and for every normal hour that passes the crew only age 18.7 minutes.




Velocity % c Length (metres) Mass (tonnes) Ship hour (in minutes)
0 100 100 60
10 99.50 100.50 59.52
20 95.39 104.83 57.20
30 95.39 104.83 57.20
40 91.65 109.11 55.00
50 86.60 115.47 52.10
60 80.00 125.00 48.00
70 71.41 140.03 42.75
80 60.00 166.67 36.00
90 43.59 229.42 26.18
95 31.22 320.26 18.71
99 14.11 708.88 8.83
99.9 4.47 2,236.63 2.78
99.99 0.71 14,142.20 1.17
100 zero infinity zero
 
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Appears in Topics
Interplanetary TransportInterstellar TransportMetric Engineering
Propulsion TechnologyShips
 
Development Notes
Text by Mauk Mcamuk and Chris Shaeffer

Initially published on 28 April 2009.