CRB 1st ed. Ship Design Antimatter p. 109

[snrdg121408]

Hello all,

I am a bit confused by the CRB 1st ed. Spacecraft Design p. 109, Alternative Power Plant, Antimatter rule.

Antimatter: Antimatter drives work by annihilating small amounts of hydrogen and anti-hydrogen. No tonnage needs to be allocated to fuel, but the drive must be refuelled once per month, at a cost of 5,000 Cr. per ton of drive.

The fusion power plant uses hydrogen and requires fuel tonnage to operate for a certain duration measured in weeks. A starship's fuel requirement is a minimum of 2 weeks.

The antimatter drive/power plant requires two types of fuel to operate which are hydrogen and anti-hydrogen. Antimatter drives/power plants must refuel monthly or every 4 weeks.

How can there be no fuel requirement when the hydrogen in a fusion power plant requires dedicated storage space?

 

[DickNervous]

There is a fuel requirement but it is very, very small.

The theory is that an antimatter reaction generates orders of magnitude more power than a fusion reaction for the same amount of fuel.
Think of it like difference between how much electricity you can generate with by burning a ton of wood to drive a steam turbine and how much you could generate with a ton of Uranium in a nuclear power plant.

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello DickNervous,

There is a fuel requirement but it is very, very small.

The theory is that an antimatter reaction generates orders of magnitude more power than a fusion reaction for the same amount of fuel.
Think of it like difference between how much electricity you can generate with by burning a ton of wood to drive a steam turbine and how much you could generate with a ton of Uranium in a nuclear power plant.

Thank you for the reply and explanation, which will hopefully stay in my memory banks.