Biggest problems with interstellar human flight

yes, that they shove in more energy than particles loose.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I think they have to use both electric and magnetic. You can't accel or decel with magnetic fields, only steer. Magnetic fields cause moving ions to whip around the field lines, at an angle depending on the mass of the ion in question. A neutral will ignore magnetic and electric fields. So electric fields for attraction or repulsion, rejecting opposite charges and such but magnetic fields to steer particles in the direction they want them to go.

"Steering" IS acceleration.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
"Steering" IS acceleration.

yes, you are right about that, any change of direction is a decel in one dimension and an accel in another.

Originally posted by FabianFnas
[b]"while the idea of humans manufacturing anti-matter is within the realm of the possible"

There is no way we can produce more than tiny amounts of anti-matter. I say not even grams of it, nor milligrams. Yes, we have been able to produce positrons and aniprotons, but more than a few anti-hydrogene? No.

The energy needed to produce anti-matter ...[text shortened]... Biggest problems with interstellar human flight"[/b] I would answer: Financing.[/b]

Well I got a reply from Dr. Jackson:
Don,

Sorry for not responding earlier, but I am buried under a huge workload with impending deadlines. Actually, the electrostatic harvester is still under development. It is not simply one mesh, but three nested meshes with very different voltages. For example, the outer two meshes are set so that no particle, either positive or negative, make it inside the inner mesh unless the particle has a kinetic energy greater than solar wind particles. Since the antiproton distribution peaks at 1 GeV, way more than solar wind particles, it can get inside and potentially trapped.

The normal scenario would be to empty the trap periodically so that there are never enough antiprotons to create a catastrophic event. Since everything is electrostatic (magnetic devices are too heavy for launch and space deployment) in our design, errant antiprotons would at worst break a wire in a mesh (an event that is easily repaired).

For more information, I would suggest you go to the following URL:

http://www.niac.usra.edu/studies/1107Jackson.html

Both the final report and the March meeting talk slides will answer most of your questions. In fact, I would start with the March talk. Please feel free to ask more questions.

Gerry

-------------
Dr. Gerald Jackson
Co-Founder & President
Hbar Technologies, LLC
"Making Antimatter Matter ®"

How bout that! I didn't know the anti's were so energetic. That throws some real poop in the game!

Originally posted by sonhouse
yes, you are right about that, any change of direction is a decel in one dimension and an accel in another.

Deceleration is also acceleration.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Deceleration is also acceleration.

Retreat? We're not retreating, we are advancing in the opposite direction!

Originally posted by sonhouse
Retreat? We're not retreating, we are advancing in the opposite direction!

You know, the world is a sphere. We can attack them going either way.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
You know, the world is a sphere. We can attack them going either way.

just a minor logistics problem the other way🙂 But you have the advantage of being able to come at them from an infinite number of angles......