Tuesday 10 August 2021

Antimatter

Harvest The Fire, CHAPTER 8.

I understand that the USS Enterprise is powered by controlled matter-antimatter interactions. Proserpinan spaceships are powered by antimatter which is:

produced on Mercury;
 
captured according to Bose-Einstein quantum mechanics;
 
confined by a laser, electromagnetic system;
 
stored underground;
 
pumped into transport ships where it is refrozen;

transported in small quantities to Earth, Mars orbit, Luna, asteroids and outer satellites;
 
transported in large quantities to a well-guarded storage facility in orbit 15 a.u.'s from Sol.
 
A Bose-Einstein (scroll down) condensate is used in the zero-zero drive in Starfarers.

Why must antimatter be produced on Mercury? Why can't the Proserpinans produce antimatter? Maybe because the production process has to be robotic and the Proserpinans don't want that?

2 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

If I recall correctly, Stirling said that if you have fusion nuclear power, you should be able to produce antimatter. I still wonder if, at the time Anderson wrote and pub. HARVEST THE FIRE (1995), the complex procedure you described was not necessary.

Ad astra! Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Drat! I meant to say: "I still wonder if, at the time Anderson wrote and pub. HARVEST THE FIRE (1995), HE KNEW the complex procedure you described was not necessary."

I forgot to add that "he knew."

Ad astra! Sean