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← Why we will never reach the stars

Alan4discussion's Avatar Jump to comment 24 by Alan4discussion

Novel propusion techniques have been discussed for about 10 years. A Penn State artist's concept of an antimatter-powered Mars ship with equipment and crew landers at the right, and the engine, with magnetic nozzles, is shown on this link.

Mars in 6 weeks? And back in a total of four months? That's the prediction of a design team working on antimatter rocket concepts at Pennsylvania State University. But first, you have to get the stuff - and store it. (PSU)

And what a reaction. Where the Space Shuttle Main Engine has a specific impulse, a measure of efficiency, of 455 seconds, and nuclear fission could reach 10,000 seconds, fusion could provide 60,000 to 100,000 seconds, and matter/antimatter annihilation up to 100,000 to 1,000,000 seconds.

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 21:46:14 UTC | #599154