A thread of 2 messages, 27 February 1991 to 27 February 1991, in the order they were sent.
Mark [ [email removed] ] mentioned 1,000,000 Isp fusion drives in a 'realistic' lower-tech Traveller setting. Antimatter _might_ make a million. Try ten to a hundred thousand for good fusion. - - -george [email removed]
I'm relying on a Charles Sheffield article in a New Destinies issue (I'm sorry, I can't find my copy right now, but I will post the reference later if anyone wants it) that is relying on the Daedelus project's estimate of an Isp of 1,000,000. I actually checked one source, which I forgot to write down the name of, that listed the potential Isp of fusion drives at 2.4 million (assuming perfect efficiency, etc.). I'm assuming a) 40% of the ideal potential is conservative, but fair, and b) my Traveller campaign is set far enough in the future that matter-antimatter isn't even a "neat idea" anymore (anyone get that reference?)...the engineering problems involved in getting a fusion drive to its full potential are ancient history to these people. I do agree that, sadly, it will probably be a long time before we are able to achieve this kind of efficiency with fusion, probably, in Traveller terms, we're talking at least Tech. 12 or 13. By the way, Sheffield also lists matter-antimatter at about 18,000,000 Isp. I admit that I do cheat a bit and use 20,000,000; it's much easier to figure things out that way. :) Mark