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Antimatter Space Drive
sckienle writes "Space.com has an article on using anti-matter for propulsion in space. It isn't true Star Trek warp stuff, in fact it is a variation on an fusion based pellet design I saw in the late 70's, but interesting concept. The concept is still somewhat of a dream, as stated in the article: 'The real hub is the storage [of antimatter]. There's a lot of technology between here and there.' Later on it also mentions that we can't produce a lot of antimatter efficiently yet. Still it might be worth the effort if the theoretical acceleration proves out." The BBC has a story about studying antimatter in a lab.
That is quite possibly the most circuitous way I have ever seen someone admit that something is impossible. Fascinating.
Dr. Joseph Hairston
Superintendent, CCBC
It isn't true Star Trek warp stuff, in fact it is a variation on an fusion based pellet design I saw in the late 70's, but interesting concept.
Are you sure those aren't tracers from the bad acid you took back in the late 70's?
I mean, come on - why not post Linux vx. MacOS X and Emacs vs. vi stories while you are at it.
sic transit gloria mundi
"Later on it also mentions that we can't produce a lot of antimatter efficiently yet."
We'd be able to produce tons of it by now if the frickin' Vulcans didn't hold us back!
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
"It isn't true Star Trek warp stuff, in fact it is a variation on an fusion based pellet design I saw in the late 70's, but interesting concept."
so are they feeding those hamsters special pellets to make them run faster on the little wheel pushing the craft or are the waste pellets used for powering and propelling the ship?
Faster, better, and cheaper than all the other antimatter drives we have already produced?
Any sufficiently simple magic can be passed off as mere advanced technology.
Yeah but look how much vcr's have come down in the last few years!
Accelerating this way, Howe's vessel could reach a speed of 260,000 mph
Faster than light!
Hate to be one to make such a lame, editorially nit-picky comment ... Come on allready!
but... allready? sheesh.
Actually, you're both wrong. The closest star is the Sun. But that's just me being pedantic.
XML causes global warming.
One side-effect of anti-matter drives is making self-destruct much, much easier.
In a just society, where the wants of the underprivileged are not left unattended-to, in a truly accepting and broad-minded multicultural community where spiritual values and emotional resonance are cherished and rewarded, it's clear that the hierarchically-constrained "male physics" which enforces today's high antimatter prices would cease to obtain.
I invite you all to contemplate the joys and rewards of a non-judgemental, people-centered physics, which takes emotional and spiritual considerations are factored into every equation. With such a "physics of the heart" taught as a scientifically acceptable and morally rewarding alternate truth -- for there are always many mutually exclusive and identically valid truths, especially in matters of radiation -- adequate supplies of antimatter would be within the reach of all! Imagine every child having enough antimatter to dream and to grow, to achieve his or her full creative potential as an individual, regardless of his or her astrological sign!
Is it truly so radical, to contemplate making science the servant of humanistic values, rather than their enemy? Is it really necessary for antimatter, like the so-called "Western literary canon", to be the exclusive province of dead white males? I think not.
"Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive" -- hey, that's me!
It topped out at 3,492,901 MPH, and then the impact of space dust turned their little umbrella thingy inside out. Now they're trying to figure out how to stop the damn thing, by firing a cold fusion cannon out the front...
I suspect a good source of brownian motion, like, say , a nice hot cup of tea might help...
the above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head
" We'll see antimatter missles :(
.
:)"
:P
Sorry, I think you typed a '(' where you meant to type a ')'
" We'll see antimatter missles
I'm excited to!
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
I want my infinite improbability drive! Come on Zaphod, hook us up!
Sigpilot : I'm in the pipe, 5 by 5.
Example: a dude sitting on a sled on a frozen pond, with a sackful of bricks. When he throws a brick off the sled
Te ice breaks and he sinks....thus, never posting about his high school physics class again.
About 40 times about 5 equals about 250.
It comes out a little closer for extremely large values of 5.
Oh. Never mind.
The article mentions that the speed of the antimatter/fission rocket will reach 260,000 mph in 4 months.
.039% of c.
That's
I guess there's a lot of room at the top, too.
and by crystal, you mean magic little rock.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on