Re: Fusion drives.

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