Difference between revisions of "Higgs-Nathan Reactor"
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Matter/Antimatter reactors were not remotely new, but as antimatter itself was difficult to contain and expensive to produce, there had not been any reasonable, large-scale application for the technology. Reactors of a similar design had been built at various laboratories for specialized experiments that called for high energy sources, but these were always one-offs with very limited usage. | Matter/Antimatter reactors were not remotely new, but as antimatter itself was difficult to contain and expensive to produce, there had not been any reasonable, large-scale application for the technology. Reactors of a similar design had been built at various laboratories for specialized experiments that called for high energy sources, but these were always one-offs with very limited usage. | ||
| − | During the [[Ages#The Sixth Age|Sixth Age]], the [[Kamian Succession Wars]] called for all sorts of new innovations. A big challenge in producing adequite numbers of warships was the demand on super-conductors to power various [[Starship Terminology|starship systems]]. These required complex and exotic materials refined to very tight tolerences, and proved to the the largest bottleneck in the production chain. Meanwhile, | + | During the [[Ages#The Sixth Age|Sixth Age]], the [[Kamian Succession Wars]] called for all sorts of new innovations. A big challenge in producing adequite numbers of warships was the demand on super-conductors to power various [[Starship Terminology|starship systems]]. These required complex and exotic materials refined to very tight tolerences, and proved to the the largest bottleneck in the production chain. Meanwhile, building ducts to move plasma around the ship, was comparatively simple. |
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| + | The scientists behind the Higgs-Nathan design originally conceived of using a centralized reactor which would then feed plasma to systems all over the ship, to be converted locally into electricity(such as at the shield generator), or used to power systems directly via induction(like at the warp coils). The | ||
==Service== | ==Service== | ||
Revision as of 21:55, 20 March 2020
The Higgs-Nathan reactor is a device that combines matter and antimatter to produce high-energy plasma. This can then be directly captured and converted into electrical energy at a high rate, this producing a sizable amount of energy. If used aboard a starship, the plasma from the reactor can also be channeled directly into the engines.
Contents
Usage
Due to design limitations, the Higgs-Nathan design has no practical application. In any known circumstance, other, more conventional power sources are preferred.
The proposed function of the design was for deep space vessels; antimatter has the highest energy density of any substance possible, so a Higgs-Nathan reactor could, in principle, provide power for a considerable duration. The design is also much more compact comparatively, but this has traditionally never been a particularly large problem.
Plasma-Inducer
Plasma-induction technology, developed as part of the Higgs-Nathan principle, allowed certain systems to be powered directly off of the plasma being produced, without first being converted to electricity.
History
Matter/Antimatter reactors were not remotely new, but as antimatter itself was difficult to contain and expensive to produce, there had not been any reasonable, large-scale application for the technology. Reactors of a similar design had been built at various laboratories for specialized experiments that called for high energy sources, but these were always one-offs with very limited usage.
During the Sixth Age, the Kamian Succession Wars called for all sorts of new innovations. A big challenge in producing adequite numbers of warships was the demand on super-conductors to power various starship systems. These required complex and exotic materials refined to very tight tolerences, and proved to the the largest bottleneck in the production chain. Meanwhile, building ducts to move plasma around the ship, was comparatively simple.
The scientists behind the Higgs-Nathan design originally conceived of using a centralized reactor which would then feed plasma to systems all over the ship, to be converted locally into electricity(such as at the shield generator), or used to power systems directly via induction(like at the warp coils). The
Service
Only one full-scale Higgs-Nathan reactor was ever put into service: G.S.S. Antikythera.
