RE: starship-design: Antiproton-Catalyzed Propulsion System

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

Christoph,

First, you need to remember that the ICAN II drive as it is currently
specified is only capable of INTERPLANETARY velocities. Its total delta v is
120 km/sec for a payload of around 100 tons ( I think that was it) which is
WAY short of 100,000 km/sec.

I had theorized here in this forum that a follow on version using a more
advanced reactor design might be able to push a probe up to interstellar
velocities, but I was talking about a probe of around the same payload mass
as the ICAN mission, not an Explorer class vessel. Since even this probe
would require a 833 fold increase in delta v, we clearly have a long way to
go before this engine will push an Explorer out.

By the way, I want to stake out a new ship class. Kelly is calling his class
Explorer. I want to delineate one called Pathfinder with a crew of only ten
to twenty specialists. More later on design and mission profile...

I think we also need a class for a heavy colonization vessel called Caravan
that would be a follow on to the Explorer mission.

The sequence of events I had in mind was Pathfinder -> Explorer -> Caravan.

> -----Original Message-----
> I have a question about the fuel-to-payload mass ratios of your
> starships. In
>
http://sunsite.unc.edu/lunar/school/InterStellar/Explorer_Class/External_fue
led_Drive.html

you give a detailed list of fule:dryweight ratios to accelerate a ship
to 1/3  light speed, ranging from 55:1 to 500,000,000:1.

As you know, there is an interesting drive concept at PSU called
ICAN-II.
(http://antimatter.phys.psu.edu/ICAN-II_Paper)

Now assume you equip your Explorer Class Starship with an ICAN-II drive,
what mass ratio would be required to accelerate it to 1/3 light speed?
With the original dryweight of 500,000 tons and without using  a fuel
launcher...

Well, they don't say it that clearly, so I'm asking...

So long

Christoph Kulmann



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