Re: Jump Distance
There is another trick: build a J-1 or J-2 or J-3 ship. Put in additional tanks. Fill the additional tanks not with liquid hydrogen, but with stuff with a significantly higher hydrogen density. Jump. Then process the stuff from the additional tanks in your onboard fuel processor, put the resulting hydrogen into the jump tank to refuel it and expel the waste.
Methane is CH4, that is each molecule has 4 hydrogen atoms. IIRC density is comparable to liquid hydrogen. So you can process 1 dt methane into 4 dt hydrogen. We discussed this very long ago on the old Pyramid boards, I am not sure whether I remember the density for methane correctly, better check that. IIRC there were also other substances that could be used to store hydrogen in much higher density than liquid hydrogen has.
Note that higher density means more mass, so such ships will have noticably less acceleration as long as the reserve fuel is carried.
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