Do Starships Need Fuel?

Deuterium is an element in the Warp Core reactors of Starships in Star Trek. Alongside the EPS Grid and Dilithium Crystals, it is all a part of a larger warp system so let's take a look at this part of the technology. Hydrogen is handy y'all.

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[markfergerson]

The ST:TNG Tech Manual says that the Federation (and presumably other powers) operates large solar powered space stations that convert deuterium harvested from gas giants into anti-deuterium using large versions of the machines aboard starships that generate antimatter from deuterium collected by the Bussard scoops. Those machines are called Quantum Charge Reversal Devices or QCRDs.

The scoops collect hydrogen, the deuterium is separated out, and the deuterium is burned in the auxiliary fusion reactors to power the QCRD to make anti-deuterium which can be used in the matter-antimatter reactor.

You need a whole lot of hydrogen to get enough deuterium to make a little antimatter so the process isn’t very efficient, but strictly speaking the QCRDs are there for emergencies when you run out of antimatter and can’t call in a tanker.

There are crude images of the QCRD in the Manual but little more. None of the above has been mentioned on screen so its canonicity is iffy. If I recall correctly there are canon mentions of antimatter tankers but images can be scarce.

Good luck making an episode out of it.

[deusexaethera]

Deuterium is used as the matter component of the fuel for warp cores not because it's abundant but because it's also the ideal fuel to use in the impulse engines' fusion reactors. If you smash two atoms of deuterium together, you get one atom of helium and no stray neutrons that would require heavy radiation shielding to protect the crew against. Plus it fuses at lower temperature than normal hydrogen.

[StArShIpEnTeRpRiSe]

"There's coffee in that nebula"

[Zeropointill]

They HAVE produced antideuterium in a lab setting (I mean, where the hell else are you going to synthesize antimatter?). Just at such high velocities that it wasn't produced in a practical way yet, but there's multiple papers written about successful production and observation. All the way back in 1965.

Massam, T; Muller, Th.; Righini, B.; Schneegans, M.; Zichichi, A. (1965). "Experimental observation of antideuteron production". Il Nuovo Cimento. 39 (1): 10–14.

Dorfan, D. E; Eades, J.; Lederman, L. M.; Lee, W.; Ting, C. C. (June 1965). "Observation of Antideuterons". Phys. Rev. Lett. 14 (24): 1003–1006. Bibcode:1965PhRvL..14.1003D.

[JusticeGamingChannel]

And this is one thing I love about Star Trek, even though it is SCIFI, it's somehow still based on real science and seems real-world applicable and feasable.

[clearcutter]

BTW the plasma in the EPS system is generated from deuterium, it's not a separate commodity. A warp core takes in more deuterium than antimatter and the excess deuterium is converted into plasma by the annihilation. Fusion reactors can also produce plasma from deuterium (without needing antimatter), although less efficiently than a warp core.

[___j______b___]

It would make sense to me to have your antimatter refinement take place right before it's injected. An on demand or near on demand process would negate the need for long term storage in the ship. Limiting risk from containment breaches.

[ChristopherHowes]

The TNG technical manual (not official cannon) refers to onboard antimatter generators as very large, inefficient and primarily for the creation of emergency reserves where it takes 10 units of Deuterium to produce 1 unit of Antimatter. Practical for reaching the nearest star base or federation tanker rendezvous.

[ThePuppywolf]

We actually have managed to construct an entire Anti-Hydrogen recently, so an Anti-Deuterium may not me far away

[martinstam]

Heh. Hydrogen. Eyes in the dark. One moon circles.. ^_^

[michaelvarney.]

Also, note that antimatter has been synthesized in a lab setting. In fact, you can generate it in many undergraduate labs (positrons). Look up PET scans. Anti-deuterium has been assembled as well.
It is a matter of scale that is the current issue.

[cormacmacsuibhne]

Geordi...uh...um Geordi, how much um... how much gas do we have? Are we good on um gas?

-a very nervous Picard

[OvisMilitaris]

So there's this theory called "Feynman–Stueckelberg Interpretation" that states antimatter and antiparticles are gain from traveling backward in time. My head canon tells me the reason why time travel is a known tech in Star Trek, is for the production of these substances.

[UGNAvalon]

Imagine my surprise when I found out that tritium (from Spiderman 2) was also a real element. 😅 I was disappointed that it was “only” a hydrogen isotope, but finding out that it was really used in fusion reactions made it worthwhile.

[GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket]

Personally I'm a fan of using micro-black holes if not for the weird issues and the fact if you ever have to do an emergency shutdown you can't restart without going to the shipyard to have a new blackhole installed. that's a bit of a deal breaker.

[marksmadhousemetaphysicalm]

Electric plasma thrusters already exist…they’re used to change orbits of spacecraft and have been used for long duration missions when NASA didn’t want to use nuclear fuel…high ISP but low velocity … they can run for very long periods to get up to very high speeds over time…if coupled with nuclear power, they’d be capable of even more…fusion rockets will be plasma based…

[ENetArch]

Time Index 6:05 - production of Anti-Matter .. this was briefly discussed somewhere in Trek Lore .. but actually quite practical. They setup reactors next to stars, which have an unlimited power source and plasma source, and can generate an unlimited amount quite easily. I expect earth to start generating Anti-Matter once we begin traversing space.

[pcheintz]

Since you covered Deuterium and anti-deuterium... you probably should cover other fuels and uses in Star Trek if you can find any information on them, as they are much rarer. Such as Neutronic fuel. It was popular enough to need fuel carriers after all... aka Kobayashi Maru (there is apparently some FASA design as well called Lotus Flower Class). All I ever found on Neutronic fuel is it is used as a catalyst in some impulse engines.

[ThatMetalheadMan]

I love how trek always made deuterium sound fancy when at the end of the day, its water lol. I remember watching something on History channel about nuclear reactors, especially in canada, making use of it almost solely as it absorbs the energy given off by the rods better than regular water, wheras US reactors just use water. Its where I learned of heavy water and it still blows my mind that the fancy "fuel" they used for their warp engines is really just simple dihydrogen monoxide.

[RichtorGroude]

hydrogen and it's alliotropes are surpringly common in fiction for FTL fuel. makes sense with how common hydrogen is. my favorite is definitely ekti from Saga of the Seven Suns