Star Trek movie and fusion

[nuclearnoob]

Is it just me or does the inside of Spock's ship look like the inside of a Tokamak? The set designers gussied it up a little but its clearly based on the reactor vessel. Hopefully in the next movie they'll pay tribute to Bussard in some way. Bussard collectors perhaps?

[kcdodd]

They already use bussard collectors.

[kunkmiester]

Star Trek has been using Bussard ramjet concepts for decades.

[nuclearnoob]

I just meant that they didn't mention the technology in the movie even though the Bussard collector was important to the series, especially in The Next Generation. Still, awesome movie. I have no complaints.

[kurt9]

I don't pay much attention to Star Trek. I did not see the recent movie that came out.

However, I have heard that the space craft in Star Trek are powered by some kind of matter-antimatter reaction that provides the energy that is then used to create the warp effect necessary for FTL travel.

This would be analogous to using a polywell reactor to generate the electricity to power a Heim drive space craft, if the Heim theory turns out to be correct.

[vernes]

Is it just me or does the inside of Spock's ship look like the inside of a Tokamak?

Clearly, the coils should be rotating around one of their axis.

[D Tibbets]

I don't pay much attention to Star Trek. I did not see the recent movie that came out.

However, I have heard that the space craft in Star Trek are powered by some kind of matter-antimatter reaction that provides the energy that is then used to create the warp effect necessary for FTL travel.

This would be analogous to using a polywell reactor to generate the electricity to power a Heim drive space craft, if the Heim theory turns out to be correct.

I may be wrong, but I believe the the Federation ships were fusion powered, while the antimater was just for the warp drive. The Romulans used a singularity (at least in StarTreck NG). And, Klingons probably used fear to power thier ships(it wouldn't dare to not work).

Dan Tibbets

[Tom Ligon]

Dr. Bussard had a coffee cup showing a profile view of the TNG Enterprise. It specifically calls out the Bussard Collectors. It was a cherished possession.

They were used (incorrectly) to gather hydrogen in the "Night Terrors" episode ("One moon circles" meant hydrogen). They were also used in one of the movies, probably "Generations." Somewhere at home I have the schematics for the original series Enterprise, and I'm pretty sure it had Bussard ramscoops as well, though they never figured in a story that I recall.

[kunkmiester]

It was Insurection. They used them to gather up some technobabble gas to release later, which caused an explosion somehow.

[KitemanSA]

Didn't they use a di-Lithium reaction? Sounds like Li6+Li6 = 3He4 fusion to me.

[Tom Ligon]

Dilithium power? Hah! Been around for decades. My venerable Kaypro 286 had two lithium batteries.

[kunkmiester]

The di-lithium crystals I understand are used in some way to moderate the antimatter reaction. I don't know if they're used for the matter side, or what, but they're not used for fusion.

[93143]

I may be wrong, but I believe the the Federation ships were fusion powered, while the antimater was just for the warp drive. The Romulans used a singularity (at least in StarTreck NG). And, Klingons probably used fear to power thier ships(it wouldn't dare to not work).

Fusion is for impulse drives, auxiliary systems, and so forth. I believe shuttles use microfusion power sources. Main power for a starship is the Matter/Antimatter Reactor Assembly (the "warp core"). Specially shaped and energized crystalline dilithium (not its full chemical name) is used as a moderator, producing a focused, tuned plasma stream from the reaction instead of a 360x360-degree spray of exotic particles.

In one episode of TOS, Scotty noted that without the matter/antimatter reactor, their maneuverability was poor, their shields were weak and they couldn't generate enough power to fire their weapons. A single Klingon battle cruiser was using them as a football, and if the Klingons had acted a little more confidently, they might have finished the job before Spock noticed that the necklace worn by one of the Enterprise's alien guests was made of high-grade dilithium crystals...

Klingon warp cores were still using dilithium sequencer technology, with poor crystal quality, very late in the 23rd century; evidently the core on the Bounty (a stolen/renamed Bird of Prey in STIV) didn't think Scotty was all that terrifying, and it decided to quit on him...

The fusion reactors used in the main impulse engines in TNG are depicted as spherical... didn't I hear a rumour somewhere that this was a deliberate reference to IEC/Polywell?

[DR.ZARKOF]

There are clues in the original Star Trek series that indicate how the power systems work. In the Mudd's Women episode, the Enterprise is forced to use all possible power to extend their shields over another ship at a distance. This burns out some of their dilithium crystals. Therefore the antimatter reactor was used for something besides warp drive. In the Ultimate Weapon episode, it is stated that a fusion explosion will result from the overload of the impulse engine. In the Balance Of Terror episode, the Romulan ship is stated to be impulse powered but it is an interstellar craft and you can see the warp nacells. The confusion is caused by the sloppy speech of the crew. Because the fusion reactor is normally used for the impulse engine they say impulse power when they mean fusion power. Sometimes they say "add warp power to the shields" when they mean power the shields directly from the antimatter reactor.

[kurt9]

Yes, there are references to di-lithium crystals in many Star Trek shows. My impression is that di-lithium crystals are the most stable form in which to store anti-matter and the corresponding matter used in energy generation. The generated energy is then used by some unspecified technique to "warp" the space around the craft in order to do FTL.

It does make sense that, if you have a method of manufacturing anti-matter relatively cheaply, that you would use matter/anti-matter reactions to power your spacecraft rather than fusion because the reaction is more efficient than fusion and that it would require a much smaller amount of fuel.

That's the extent of my knowledge of Star Trek. In any case, who knows what was running through the mind of Gene Roddenberry in the mid 60's when he created Star Trek.