A matter-antimatter propulsion system for manned interstellar flight

Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6264256

Powell, J R; Pelligrino, C

The major problems of interstellar flight are addressed in an integrated design of a star ship, Valkyrie. It employs a large diameter (/sup -/1 km) thin superconducting current ring to magnetically channel the reaction products from repetitive pellet explosions (either matter-antimatter or fusion) to generate thrust. The thermal intercept fraction on the star ship is very small, approx.10/sup -6/. Waste heat is radiated to space by a droplet radiator, which also protects against interstellar dust/gas. Maximum velocities in the range 10 to 20% of light speed appear possible. 3 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 6264256
• Report Number(s): BNL-40082; CONF-8710122-1; ON: DE87013311
• Resource Relation: Conference: 38. congress of the International Astronautical Federation, Brighton, UK, 10 Oct 1987; Other Information: Paper copy only, copy does not permit microfiche production
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ANTIMATTER
SPACE VEHICLES
PROPULSION
SPACECRAFT POWER SUPPLIES
THEORETICAL DATA
THRUSTERS
DATA
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
POWER SUPPLIES
VEHICLES
650000* - Physics (1980-)