Engine List
Engines are listed here roughly in order of their appearance in the tech tree.
- X-6 'Clarke' Fission Fragment Rocket Engine
- X-20 'Verne' Pulsed Fission Engine
- JP-10 'Impulse' Magneto-Inertial Fusion Engine
- X-7 'Asimov' Afterburning Fission Fragment Rocket Engine
- X-2 'Heinlein' Nuclear Salt Water Rocket Engine
- JR-15 'Discovery' Spherical Tokamak Fusion Engine
- JR-45 'Fresnel' Mirror Cell Fusion Engine
- A-134NG 'Casaba' Antimatter Catalyzed Microfission Engine
- A-7007 'Dirac' Antimatter Initiated Microfusion Engine
- K-80 'Hammertong' Inertial Confinement Fusion Engine
- JR-20A 'Ouroboros' Torroidal Tokamak Fusion Engine
- JX-200 'Cascade' Axial Flow Z-Pinch Fusion Engine
- A-834M 'Frisbee' Antimatter Engine
| X-6 'Clarke' Fission Fragment Rocket Engine | |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Experimental Nuclear Propulsion (1,500) |
| Diameter: | 2.5 |
| Mass: | 10 |
| Cost: | 195,000 |
| Propellant: | Enriched Uranium |
| Thrust: | 12 |
| Specific Impulse: | 350,000 |
| Heat Production: | 15,000 |
This novel engine considers an important question: what if you just stuck an open nuclear reactor core on the back of a spacecraft? The spinning platters in the core are coated with uranium dust, and undergo fission as they spin through the core. The fission products fly out the back at ludicrous speeds, resulting in maddeningly high specific impulse! A secondary set of magnets decelerates stray fragments, inducing a current in powerful generator coils. This creates enough power to run the engine system and more, so once this engine is running, it produces an acceptable 75 kW of electricity. However, there are downsides - barely noticeable thrust, no refuelability, and radioactivity, lots of radioactivity.
| X-20 'Verne' Pulsed Fission Engine | |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Experimental Nuclear Propulsion (1,500) |
| Diameter: | 5 |
| Mass: | 18 |
| Cost: | 355,000 |
| Propellant: | Fission Pellets |
| Thrust: | 640 |
| Specific Impulse: | 9,500 |
| Heat Production: | 13,000 |
A curious property of really, really high currents - when arranged properly, they generate a collapsingmagnetic field. This engine exploits this by directing pulses of extremely high current into small fission bombs, which explode with moderate force and are directed backwards by a magnetic nozzle. It's a mini Orion drive, without the powerful nukes, higher efficiency and the need for big blue capacitors.
| JP-10 'Impulse' Magneto-Inertial Fusion Engine | |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Fusion Rockets (1,500) |
| Diameter: | 2.5 |
| Mass: | 11 |
| Cost: | 96,000 |
| Mode: | Deuterium |
|---|---|
| Propellant: | Lithium/LqdDeuterium |
| Thrust: | 75 |
| Specific Impulse: | 5,000 |
| Heat Production: | 3,000 |
| Mode: | D-He3 |
|---|---|
| Propellant: | Lithium/LqdDeuterium/LqdHe3 |
| Thrust: | 100 |
| Specific Impulse: | 7,500 |
| Heat Production: | 3,000 |
Simple, entry-level fusion by using cylindrical plasma liners made of lithium, crushed by magnetic coils. These coils crush fuel gases which undergo fusion. Deuterium or a Deuterium-He3 mix can be used - using the higher performance fuel increases power and decreases heat generation. This engine needs to charge its power banks to be activated, and still uses a small amount of power when running.
| X-7 'Asimov' Afterburning Fission Fragment Rocket Engine | |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Exotic Nuclear Propulsion (2,250) |
| Diameter: | 3.75 |
| Mass: | 18 |
| Cost: | 275,000 |
| Mode: | Fission Fragment |
|---|---|
| Propellant: | FissionParticles |
| Thrust: | 30 |
| Specific Impulse: | 450,000 |
| Heat Production: | 16,000 |
| Mode: | Afterburner |
|---|---|
| Propellant: | FissionParticles/LH2 |
| Thrust: | 300 |
| Specific Impulse: | 45,000 |
| Heat Production: | 12,500 |
A direct improvement on the fission fragment platter design, this engine suspends a particulate dust of fissionable particles in the centre of a reaction chamber using a weak magnetic field. The dust undergoes fission, and the reaction products are expelled at high energy from the rocket at incredible speeds, guided but not restrained by the magnetic field. A secondary set of magnets decelerates stray fragments, inducing a current in powerful generator coils. This creates enough power to run the engine system and more, so once this engine is running, it produces an acceptable 125 kW of electricity. In order to try to boost the thrust, Liquid Hydrogen can be injected into the beam of radioactive death, cutting efficiency but improving thrust from barely noticeable to merely pitiful.
| X-2 'Heinlein' Nuclear Salt Water Rocket Engine | |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Exotic Nuclear Propulsion (2,250) |
| Diameter: | 2.5 |
| Mass: | 12 |
| Cost: | 115,000 |
| Propellant: | NuclearSaltWater |
| Thrust: | 1,800 |
| Specific Impulse: | 3,850 |
| Heat Production: | 8,000 |
Basically a continuously detonating, barely contained nuclear explosion, this rocket engine is highly radioactive, highly unpleasant and highly... awesome.
| JR-15 'Discovery' Spherical Tokamak Fusion Engine | |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Advanced Fusion Reactions (2,250) |
| Diameter: | 3.75 |
| Mass: | 20 |
| Cost: | 235,000 |
| Mode: | Low Power |
|---|---|
| Propellant: | LH2/LqdDeuterium/LqdHe3 |
| Thrust: | 200 |
| Specific Impulse: | 17,900 |
| Heat Production: | 14,000 |
| Mode: | High Power |
|---|---|
| Propellant: | LH2/LqdDeuterium/LqdHe3 |
| Thrust: | 400 |
| Specific Impulse: | 8,000 |
| Heat Production: | 7,000 |
This basic thermal fusion engine reacts Helium-3 and Deuterium in a spherical tokamak design. A variable amount of Liquid Hydrogen can be injected into the exhaust, increasing thrust at the cost of efficiency. This engine needs to charge its power banks to be activated, but can produce a cool 500 kW of power from onboard fusion fuel once activated, even if the engine isn't running. Keeping the reactor running in this way allows instant throttle response. Make sure to pack radiators!
| JR-45 'Fresnel' Mirror Cell Fusion Engine | |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Exotic Fusion Reactions (4,000) |
| Diameter: | 3.75 |
| Mass: | 50 |
| Cost: | 585,000 |
| Note: | Stats are given for maximum length (22m) |
| Mode: | Reaction Products |
|---|---|
| Propellant: | LqdDeuterium/LqdHe3 |
| Thrust: | 375 |
| Specific Impulse: | 200,000 |
| Heat Production: | 45,000 |
| Mode: | Afterburner |
|---|---|
| Propellant: | LH2/LqdDeuterium/LqdHe3 |
| Thrust: | 1,875 |
| Specific Impulse: | 40,000 |
| Heat Production: | 28,000 |
The long, thin plasma chamber of the gasdynamic mirror engine does away with confining the plasma for fusion and says 'why not just throw it down a long, narrow hallway and hope it fuses by the end of it?'. This gives great energy release and high possible fusion gain. Hydrogen can optionally be injected into the plasma for additional thrust. The length of the reaction chamber determines the performance of the engine - higher lengths cost and weigh more, but net great dividends. This engine needs to charge its power banks to be activated, but can produce a modest 250 kW of power from onboard fusion fuel once activated, even if the engine isn't running. Keeping the reactor running in this way allows instant throttle response. Make sure to pack radiators!
| A-134NG 'Casaba' Antimatter Catalyzed Microfission Engine | |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Antimatter Power (4,000) |
| Diameter: | 5.00 (attachment), 7.50 (engine bell) |
| Mass: | 15 |
| Cost: | 355,000 |
| Propellant: | Ablator/Antimatter/FissionPellets |
| Thrust: | 420 |
| Specific Impulse: | 13,500 |
| Heat Production: | 11,200 |
This engine detonates small nuclear charges with precisely directed beams of antiprotons. Simple, really. Antimatter... triggered... nuclear... bombs. The blast from the charges vaporizes an ablative nozzle, providing high efficiency thrust. This engine needs to charge its power banks to be activated, but onboard generation systems ensures that it will run independently once it gets going.
