X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson
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In article <607977617.amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU> Dale.Amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU writes:
>I and a coauthor are nearing the end of draft 2 of a rather large SF
>novel (10 years in the making), and I need a few pieces of information.
>What would be the appearance of the plume from an antimatter rocket
>using Hydrogen? I would presume the Hydrogen comes out the nozzle as a
>plasma of protons and electrons that gradually recombine and give off
>EM.
>Can anyone describe the appearance of such a plume?
An "antimatter rocket"? By that, do you mean a rocket using only antimatter
(hydrogen & antihydrogen) or a more conventional rocket using antimatter as a
power source and hydrogen as the reaction mass? If the former, there would be
no 'plume'; the exhaust would consist only of high energy photons. (These might make interesting effects in an atmosphere ... such as irradiating a significant
portion of a planet ...)
If the latter, the plume cold be anything, although I wold gess (%$ my yoo key is broken) that the hotter the plme (IE, plasma) the more efficient the rocket.
=-=-=--* Disclaimer: I know nothing.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 8 Apr 1989 11:52-EDT
From: Dale.Amon@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Rockefeller reference
Some days back I posted that the Standard Oil "scandal" may not
actually have been fact. For those interested, I have found a
reference.
John McGee, "Predatory Price Cutting: The Standard Oil (N.J.) Case," in
The Competitive Economy: Selected Readings, ed. Yale Brozen
(Morristown, N.J.: General Learning Press, 1975). p. 403.
"Judging from the Record, Standard Oil did not use predatory price
discrimination to drive out competing refiners, nor did its pricing
practive have that effect... I am convinced that Standard Oil did not
systematically, if ever, use local price cutting in retailing, or
anywhere else, to reduce competition. To do so would have been foolish;
and, whatever else has been said about it, the old Standard
organization was seldom criticized for making less money when it could
readily have made more."
------------------------------
Date: 8 Apr 89 21:29:19 GMT
From: phoenix!kpmancus@princeton.edu (Keith P. Mancus)
Subject: Re: Building a fusion-based rocket
In article <943@psueea.UUCP> sandym@psu-cs.cs.pdx.edu (Sandy Michael) writes:
>
>Why on Earth do you want a fusion powered _rocket_? Sounds like a total
>waste of energy. ;*)
>
>How about a fusion powered electricity generator powering an ion drive!!!
>
>mehawk@reed.uucp
Because we don't have the capability to put big payloads into orbit
cheaply. You'll never be able to do that with an ion drive. While
deep space missions are useful, the urgent need NOW is Real Cheap
missions to LEO and GEO.
I realize that flying nuclear-powered rockets in the atmosphere
is tricky. The heat exchanger has to be very permeable to heat while
blocking any significant (nuclear) radiation from getting to the
reaction mass. But the idea isn't mine; Eugene Sanger discusses
both convective fission rockets and nuclear hypersonic ramjets
in _Space Flight_ (an excellent read). He shows that for a nuclear
(fission) powered rocket launching from Earth, the payload is
approximately 20% of the takeoff weight. (Note that it has been ~10
years since I read this book, so please excuse me if I'm garbling
his arguments.)
The spaceplane is more practical if it is based on a nuclear
engine (this is also discussed in _Space Flight_). The higher
Isp you can get from a nuclear engine (corresponding to exhaust
velocities of approximately 10-12 km/sec in vacuum) makes these
vehicles considerable more efficient.
I've been playing around with these ideas for the past 4 years.
Lots of back-of-the-envelope stuff. Now if Third Millenium Inc.
just gets their funding soon (they're interested in hiring me).....
Feel free to send mail if you want to discuss this.
