At least for the first generation, you likely also wouldn't be using antimatter as the main source of energy, but rather as a method of initiating some other reaction. For example where in a conventional fission reaction you get a relatively clean split of a nucleus into two halves plus a few extra neutrons to drive a chain reaction, an antiproton will blast apart such a nucleus like a billiard break, allowing fission reactions with much less than a conventional critical mass. A quick burst of positrons hitting the surface of some lithium deuteride would be able to replace a fission primary and make a pure-fusion explosion. Either of these options could be used as either incredibly low-mass nukes for an orion drive or as a light weight reactor for a more conventional nuclear propulsion method. While about 600 times less energy dense than pure antimatter, you're still talking 10 million times better energy density than our best current rocket fuels, while using several orders of magnitude less antimatter.
Re:New exotic matter particle, a tetraquark, discovered at CERN
by jjk166 on Friday July 30, 2021 @03:35PM
(#28011485)
Presumably antimatter would be your energy source, but not your propellant. The gamma rays from a small number of annihilations would heat up a much larger amount of normal matter.
Re:New exotic matter particle, a tetraquark, discovered at CERN
by human on Friday July 30, 2021 @02:31PM
(#28010848)
I would be so nervous to be in the middle of space with an hockey puck of antimatter.
Re:New exotic matter particle, a tetraquark, discovered at CERN
by yccs27 on Friday July 30, 2021 @04:34PM
(#28012043)
I guess I'd be just as nervous in space with thousands of tonnes of explosive propellant. Spaceflight always operates on the very edge of what's possible, not of what's safe.
Re:New exotic matter particle, a tetraquark, discovered at CERN
by ashtonkem on Friday July 30, 2021 @01:49PM
(#28010483)
Gamma ray mirrors sound like they’d be extremely useful for nuclear power too.
Re:New exotic matter particle, a tetraquark, discovered at CERN
by 8note on Friday July 30, 2021 @02:00PM
(#28010579)
Superconductors pretty notoriously need to be kept cold, which adds another difficulty of cooling the antimatter without touching it
Re:New exotic matter particle, a tetraquark, discovered at CERN
by whatshisface on Friday July 30, 2021 @02:04PM
(#28010611)
If it was surrounded by a cold mass that it could radiate photons to across a vacuum, its equilibrium temperature would be that of its container.
And yeah, you'll need a way to build gamma ray mirrors before antimatter reactions will push you in any direction (the energy comes flying out isotropically and we can't presently do anything to stop or direct it), but we can cross that parsec when we come to it. :-)