High Efficiency Plasma Recombustion

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The High Efficiency Plasma Recombustion (HEPlaR) Drive is a very high impulse and high thrust Reaction Drive.

  • It is an advanced type of Nuclear Thermal Rocket (NERVA or NTR-Drive), sometimes known as an H/P-Drive (HP-Drive) or P/H-Drive (PH-Drive). It should not be confused with a "Hop-Drive", which is also sometimes known as an "H-Drive".


Description (Specifications)[edit]

HEPlaR is a type of Plasma Rocket falling under the general category of advanced Nuclear Thermal Propulsion systems. It consists of an heat exchanger recombustion chamber added to a fission or fusion power plant. Hydrogen is injected into the recombustion chamber and the power generated by the engine heats the hydrogen to a plasma state. The plasma is them released as a high velocity stream of reaction mass, providing thrust. Because the engine is used to heat the plasma, this effectively drains the engine heat, reducing the power output of the engine in proportion to the thrust of the drive.

  • Improvements on the basic NTR/HEPlaR Drive system include early prototype versions of the technologies used in gravitic systems that temporarily reduce the apparent inertial mass of the exhaust stream thru a gravito-magnetic driver-coil assembly, thus increasing the exhaust velocity through conservation of momentum. When the reaction mass exits the coil assembly and the apparent mass-reduction is removed, the higher velocity (and momentum) is retained at the expense of the engine which counter-reacts in the opposite direction, the energy having been supplied by the reaction motor and coil assembly thru the gravitomagnetic interaction with the reaction exhaust. [1]

STL Drive Specifications[edit]

STL Drive Specifications (Starship Propulsion)
Category Specifications Remarks
Name HEPlaR High Efficiency Plasma Recombustion
Drive Type Nuclear Thermal Rocket Plasma / Reaction drive
TL 10
Velocity 1-9 G Few fighters can exceed sustained 6 G acceleration due to pilot limitations.
Missiles and unmanned craft can exceed 6 G. Compensators can sometimes allow higher acceleration.
Duration Limited by reaction mass or fuel tankage. Smallcraft rarely carry more than a few hours of sustained reaction mass or fuel.
Hazards TBD TBD
Physical
Constraints 		Biophysiological limitations
Geometry Euclidean Conventional space-time
Levels n/a
Entry n/a
Exit n/a
Fuel Typically LHyd Other conventional reaction mass possible
Resource
Requirements 		TBD TBD
Inventor TBD TBD
Characteristics TBD TBD

History & Background (Dossier)[edit]

It was first developed at TL–10.


Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:

Interstellar Drives & Travel (Click "Expand" to reveal) ==>>

Starship:

  • NAFAL (STL) - (Not As Fast As Light) / (Slower Than Light)
  • Light Speed (c)
  • FTL - (Faster Than Light) - "Superluminal"
» Imperial Standard Astronomical Unit
» Solomani Parsec
» Vilani Parsec ("Deshi")
» Imperial Standard Parsec


(Field Drives / Propellantless Drives)



References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
  1. ↑ Speculative rationale for improvement of the engine technology with increasing TL added by WHULorigan.
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