Torch Drives
Torchships are the fastest, most powerful, and most dangerous ships around. By their very nature, torch drives are weapons off mass destruction.
While torchships have become widely available courtesy of advanced fusion and mass-produced antimatter, there are strict regulations in place to ensure safe operation.
BCAT / Beam Core Antimatter Torch
Type: torch drive
Rating: long range
Mass: 10 t
Dimensions: L = 4 m, W = 2 m
Remass: LH2, anti-SH2
Remass Flow: 0.1 kg/s*
Exhaust Velocity: 100 Mm/s*
Specific Impulse: 10,193,680 s
Thrust: 10 MN*
Reactor: beam core
Thrust Director: magnetic nozzle
Afterburners: remass-injection
Warnings
* unaugmented
The Beam Core Antimatter Torch (BCAT, pronounced 'BEE-cat') is a lightweight antimatter rocket engine and the first commercially available long-range torch drive. First built by El-Khadar Industries and released into the public domain, other companies have since designed their own versions of the BCAM, notably Celestine Aerospace, Zervos Shipyards, and Kadath Aerospace.
Due to its small size and low mass, the BCAT torch can be installed in clusters much like a conventional rocket engine.
LCAT / Laser Core Antimatter Torch
Type: torch drive
Rating: long range
Reactor: laser core
Thrust Director: magnetic nozzle
Warnings
ICFT / Inertial Confinement Fusion Torch
Type: torch drive
Rating: medium range
Remass Flow: 10 kg/s
Exhaust Velocity: 10 Mm/s
Specific Impulse: 1,019,368 s
Thrust: 100 MN
Reactor: inertial confinement
Thrust Director: magnetic nozzle
Warnings
NSWR-90 / Zubrin Torch
Type: torch drive
Rating: short range
Mass: 33 t
Remass: 90% enriched UTB, H2O
Remass Flow: 3 kg/s
Exhaust Velocity: 4,725,000 m/s
Specific Impulse: 482,140 s
Thrust: 12.9 MN
Reactor: gas core open cycle
Thrust Director: nozzle / pusher plate
Warnings
The NSWR-90 aka. Zubrin Torch is the most common type of Nuclear Salt Water Rocket.
It's a lightweight nuclear fission rocket using 90% enriched uranium tetrabromide (UTB) solution as fuel, combined with water as remass. It's the oldest torchdrive in use, and with a mass of only 33 metric tons the engine can be installed in clusters.
The much less powerful NSWR-20 version uses 20% enriched UTB, but it's rarely used nowadays. There are two configs, one using a conventional nozzle and the other using a pusher plate. The latter is safer as it relocates the detonation outside the ship.
