| Antimatter Catalysed Fusion Drive;
also known as Antimatter Fusion Pulse or Boosted Fusion Data Panel Summary: Hybrid anti-matter-fusion engine. Although it has a lower exhaust velocity and Isp than the pure amat engine, this type of craft is excellent for exploring interplanetary space, as far out as the Oort Cloud. There are a number of variants. Also called the Antimatter Catalyzed Fusion Engine Basic Propulsion: Reaction Specific Impulse [sec]: 103 to 106 (depending on the amount of anti-matter used, and the design and efficiency of the engine). Fuel: amat (antiprotons) and Deuterium-Tritium Reaction Mass: no separate reaction mass Minimum Technology Required: Middle to High Tech (Information/Interplanetary Age Equivalent) Matter Manipulation: microscale Controller required: advanced non-sentient or sentient computers First Introduced: Late Information Age (early small-scale unmanned probes). During the late Interplanetary Age and the Early First Federation period these ships were common in the Inner Solar System, these ships are also widely used for fast runs in the outer system; most antimatter produced in the inner solar system was traded for use in Amat/Cat ships. During the Great Expulsion period many Backyarder vessels used the Amat/Cat drive to escape the Solar System, despite the relatively poor performance compared to later, more efficient drives. Used by: still widely used for cheap interplanetary transport on many Middle and some High Tech systems. Used in: medium speed interplanetary transport Construction Costs: Autofac: medium (bulky, precision materials); Hylonano: reasonably cheap assuming presence of component raw materials Advantages: robust lower tech, does not require amat reactor chamber, smaller and cheaper to build than a fusion pulse engine of similar power, gives better performance, does not require advanced tech or high level ai. Disadvantages: slow, requires amat (hazardous) Normal Acceleration: 0.01 to 0.1 g Normal Top/Cruising Speed 100 - 150 km/sec (interplanetary haulers) (0.1c -interstellar arkships) Drive Details Antimatter Catalyzed Fusion - uses antimatter to initiate nuclear fusion (deuterium or tritium). Hydrogen is forced into fusion by catalysis with antimatter |
Where amat is scarce or expensive, or where ships carrying large quantities of amat are not allowed, and thus standard amat drive impractical, the antimatter catalyzed fusion (or antimatter-thermal) rocket is a common option. An antiproton catalyzed fusion rocket uses antiprotons to provide the energy and induce a fusion reaction much more easily than a normal fusion reaction. Relatively few antiprotons are needed to catalyze this reaction, so hundreds of thousands of kilograms of antiprotons are not be needed, as in the case of the pure matter-antimatter rocket.
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