Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth
Er, both the things you proposed use annihilation reactions.
One expells the annihilation products directly, the other uses them to heat (water) reaction mass, yes. The water reaction mass will almost certainly be much lower ISP than the annihilation product reaction mass...but it's also a lot easier to confine, so it's very likely you can get much higher thrust out of it.
I mean, really, what you're talking about is right on SS23: Antimatter Thermal Rocket vs. Antimatter Pion.
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We seem to be circular here. If you are doing this, then you have two different rockets, rather than the OP's contention that you would take off, transit, and land, all with the same engine.