Multi-Modal Anti-matter Strike System (MASS)

First developed in the Early to Mid-Interplanetary Age but used even into the present era, MASS weapons took advantage of developments in both the production and storage of antimatter that permitted significant quantities (ranging from milligrams to grams) of the material to be both created and stored in relative safety for indefinite periods.

MASS devices are deceptively simple in their design and construction. Each device contains a small quantity of anti-matter and a larger amount of densely packed normal matter, generally solid hydrogen although virtually any convenient material can be used. One end of the device contains a small rocket motor, the other an explosively pumped X-ray laser. An onboard sensor array and ai navigation system completes the package.

A MASS warhead operates as its own propulsion system. A small portion of the anti-matter payload is combined with onboard hydrogen to produce a high-acceleration plasma drive which propels the MASS toward its target. This allows the MASS to operate in several different modes:

a) Matter-antimatter explosive:
On impact with the target the remaining anti-matter combines with both the remaining hydrogen and the matter of the target to produce a large explosion. The further the MASS travels the less amat remaining on impact with the target and the weaker the resulting detonation. However, this is actually an advantage to the system in that it greatly reduces or eliminates the chances of 'live' munitions being left on the 'battlefield'. A MASS that misses its target or that cannot catch up to its target becomes nothing more then a small chunk of flying diamondoid.

b) Kinetic impact weapon:
With even modest amounts of matter and antimatter on board a MASS can accelerate up to a significant fraction of the speed of light and strike a target with considerable kinetic energy. On occasion, MASS devices may be used in this manner either to conserve amat stocks or as low-yield kinetic weapons.

c) Self-propelled X-ray laser platform:
If a MASS weapon cannot impact its target for some reason, or if otherwise deemed desirable, it may detonate its remaining anti-matter payload and use the resulting energy to generate an X-ray laser. This tactic is intended to ensure that a MASS does not waste its warhead chasing a target it cannot catch and allows it to deliver at least a portion of its destructive potential at the speed of light, which no target can outrace.

Most MASS weapons are also designed such that a premature detonation of the device, perhaps due to the efforts of enemy point-defense systems, will trigger the lasing effect and result in the MASS 'getting off a parting shot' even as it is destroyed. In other cases a swarm of MASS devices may purposely lase several of their number in order to intercept incoming point-defense or countermeasure weapons before they arrive, thereby giving the bulk of the swarm a greater probability of reaching the target.

MASS weapons come in a variety of sizes ranging from a few centimeters to several meters. Virtually all have variable yields through the simple method of adjusting the amount of antimatter loaded on to each unit before it is launched. Often a 'modular' warhead design is used such that many small, identical amat containment units, each containing the same amount of anti-matter, are loaded on board. The number of units that are loaded to each weapon sets explosive yield.

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content by Todd Drashner
image by Steve Bowers using Celestia

Multi-Modal Antimatter Strike System (MASS)