Submission + - Starships powered by antimatter could approach the speed of light (tech-stew.com) 3
techfun89 writes: "With the increased focus on extrasolar planetary systems, there will be an increased focus on getting there to better look for sciences of life, even sentient life.
Recently, physicists Ronan Keane and Wei-Ming Zhang wrote a paper and studied on antimatter propulsion. Their latest results from computer simulators have shown that at least one key component in creating a working antimatter propulsion engine is that of highly efficient magnetic nozzles. Their studies have shown that these nozzles need to be efficient and that it is feasible to make them this way using our current technology.
Keane and Zhang also outlined how the particles would avoid a matter/antimatter annihilation as they exit the engine. Their technique relies on charged pions that result from proton-antiproton collisions. A nozzle that emits a strong magnetic field could channel the emitted charged particles into a focused stream of charged pions accelerating them to make an even stronger thrust.
Past calculations showed the nozzle's efficiency was only 36 percent, but Keane and Zhang redesigned the nozzles to be 85 percent efficient, making the a speed of around 70 percent the speed of light possible, given a pion exit speed of 80 percent of the speed of light. Such a speed gets us to Proxima Centauri 4.3 light years away in 6 years."
Recently, physicists Ronan Keane and Wei-Ming Zhang wrote a paper and studied on antimatter propulsion. Their latest results from computer simulators have shown that at least one key component in creating a working antimatter propulsion engine is that of highly efficient magnetic nozzles. Their studies have shown that these nozzles need to be efficient and that it is feasible to make them this way using our current technology.
Keane and Zhang also outlined how the particles would avoid a matter/antimatter annihilation as they exit the engine. Their technique relies on charged pions that result from proton-antiproton collisions. A nozzle that emits a strong magnetic field could channel the emitted charged particles into a focused stream of charged pions accelerating them to make an even stronger thrust.
Past calculations showed the nozzle's efficiency was only 36 percent, but Keane and Zhang redesigned the nozzles to be 85 percent efficient, making the a speed of around 70 percent the speed of light possible, given a pion exit speed of 80 percent of the speed of light. Such a speed gets us to Proxima Centauri 4.3 light years away in 6 years."
