[Spaceships] Antimatter prices

the-red-scare · 07-29-2020, 02:05 PM

Lots of figures in Spaceships are rounded, simplified, or just plain fudged to assist in playability and to make things interesting. Among them are the prices of antimatter fuel. Leaving aside the 50-50 mix we have antimatter-catalyzed propellant at $20K per ton, and antimatter-boosted propellant at $12M per ton.

These prices don't reflect the changes in the price of antimatter across TLs, the specifics of which are available in Ultra-Tech. In the case of the boosted propellant, a single price also doesn't reflect that getting more mps per tank for the same thrust would require more antimatter. Suppose we want to be consistent with Ultra-Tech and let the chips fall where they may.

A TL9 SM +5 antimatter thermal rocket produces 0.1G (F = 2,700 N) and gets 1.8 mps per tank (Ve = 53,000 m/s), which means it is putting out 72 MW. One tank of antimatter-catalyzed hydrogen will burn for 49 minutes, making 210 GJ. One microgram of antimatter produces about 180 MJ, so one tank includes 1,200 micrograms. That's 800 micrograms per ton.

At TL9, this is $20M. It is $2M at TL10, $20K at TL11, and $4K at TL12. So Spaceships basically assumes TL11 antimatter prices. Cool. Just use these figures for earlier TLs if you like.

Antimatter-boosted propellant is another story. Doing the same math, we find that the 120-mps antimatter boosted hydrogen for the TL10 plasma rocket requires 3.5 grams of antimatter for every ton, which costs $18M even at TL12. At the actual TL of 10, that's a cool $9B. It also requires at close to a ton of storage bay, assuming Transhuman Space-like hard science solutions -- for realism, you could require two tank systems for every tank of usable fuel. Just don't count the extra tanks on the Delta-V Increase table.

The 360-mps antimatter boosted hydrogen for a TL11 plasma rocket uses 32 grams per ton. That's $800M at TL11 and $160M at TL12. The good stuff is expensive.

What's that? You like your $12M antimatter-boosted hydrogen as it is? Okay, assuming TL11 prices and maintaining the 0.01G, you get 45 mps per tank.

07-29-2020, 02:05 PM	#1
the-red-scare Join Date: Sep 2014	[Spaceships] Antimatter prices Lots of figures in *Spaceships* are rounded, simplified, or just plain fudged to assist in playability and to make things interesting. Among them are the prices of antimatter fuel. Leaving aside the 50-50 mix we have antimatter-catalyzed propellant at $20K per ton, and antimatter-boosted propellant at $12M per ton. These prices don't reflect the changes in the price of antimatter across TLs, the specifics of which are available in *Ultra-Tech. In the case of the boosted propellant, a single price also doesn't reflect that getting more mps per tank for the same thrust would require more antimatter. Suppose we want to be consistent with Ultra-Tech* and let the chips fall where they may. A TL9 SM +5 antimatter thermal rocket produces 0.1G (F = 2,700 N) and gets 1.8 mps per tank (Ve = 53,000 m/s), which means it is putting out 72 MW. One tank of antimatter-catalyzed hydrogen will burn for 49 minutes, making 210 GJ. One microgram of antimatter produces about 180 MJ, so one tank includes 1,200 micrograms. That's 800 micrograms per ton. At TL9, this is $20M. It is $2M at TL10, $20K at TL11, and $4K at TL12. So Spaceships basically assumes TL11 antimatter prices. Cool. Just use these figures for earlier TLs if you like. Antimatter-boosted propellant is another story. Doing the same math, we find that the 120-mps antimatter boosted hydrogen for the TL10 plasma rocket requires 3.5 grams of antimatter for every ton, which costs $18M even at TL12. At the actual TL of 10, that's a cool $9B. It also requires at close to a ton of storage bay, assuming *Transhuman Space-like hard science solutions -- for realism, you could require two tank systems for every tank of usable fuel. Just don't count the extra tanks on the Delta-V Increase table. The 360-mps antimatter boosted hydrogen for a TL11 plasma rocket uses 32 grams per ton. That's $800M at TL11 and $160M at TL12. The good stuff is expensive*. What's that? You like your $12M antimatter-boosted hydrogen as it is? Okay, assuming TL11 prices and maintaining the 0.01G, you get 45 mps per tank.