AMP Drive

This is a Twenty-second Century spacecraft propulsion system based on the annihilation reaction of matter and antimatter. The drive applies two approaches: First, antimatter reactions heated a tungsten core which, in turn, heated hydrogen as it flows through the reactor core and then out the nozzle. The hydrogen plasma accelerated the spacecraft at 1G with 1,000 times the efficiency of chemical rockets.

Second, the beam core engine shown below in which magnetic coils would contain and direct the particles produced by proton-anti-proton annihilation. The benefit of this engine was that it produced continuous thrust with low acceleration making it possible for the drive to produce velocities that were large fractions of light speed.

The AMP drive was tested on Mars transports during the last two decades of the Twenty-first Century. On its maiden voyage it completed the Earth-Mars-Earth circuit in 120 days with a 30-day layover at Mars. This was significantly slower than the Winglee drives performance, but these tests helped prove the methodology and improve reliability. The first AMP Surveyship to employ the drive was the Beagle commissioned on June 25, 2130CE and launched toward Procyon in 2131CE.