How to Power a Sci-Fi Spaceship

‘Coaxium! Enough to power a fleet!’

COAL POWERED SPACESHIPS

To quote the John Aaron in the Apollo 13 movie: "Power is everything... Without it, they don't talk to us, they don't correct their trajectory, they don't turn the heat shield around..."

I rly like how in the books written by evan currie they upgraded their power source during the series. They went from nuclear fusion to having black holes as generators.

“And you’re screwed if you lose [antimatter] containment completely.” This is a common cool sci-fi event, but not actually much of a problem IRL. CERN today, and for a few decades I believe, has self-powering magnetic bottles as the final layer of backup after grid-power and then batteries. It’s functionally equivalent to a very slow tank leak for any other fuel, since it’s using a small amount of the antimatter to power containment. But at least it’s not letting it touch the walls of the unpowered magnetic bottle all at once! You probably don’t want to be relying on it long-term, unless antimatter is VERY cheap in your setting, but it should pretty much absolutely guarantee you never run into the issue of explosive antimatter fuel tanks. So the real worst-case scenario is basically equivalent to the issues we have with regular old hydrogen tanks ;)

8th MS teams is indeed perfection

Space magic, pixie dust and unicorn farts.....

the comment at the end of the crew getting their energy of food gave me the idea of a ship being fueled by food too. Its definitely a softer idea but I like the idea of a otherwise mechanical ship having that incongruous organic element. can do fun stuff with ships having preferences on what they eat too. definitely changes the meaning of ship's rations lol

"I saw perfection" Yeager class on screen Yup, it's a Spacedock video alright

casually mentions the best star wars series with a dad level joke*

Suggestions on future video topics: military ranks (I make up mine since it's aliens) provisions on Starships (could include alternative meats like lab grown meats or the new making protein from the air, or even talks about creating an actual star trek replicator)

I think any good ship needs multiple methods of producing power. In my setting, most ships have a matter-antimatter generator as their primary means of powering warp drive, a fusion reactor as a secondary that is used to power everything except the warp engines, and some gas powered maneuvering thrusters that can be used if you're really desperate.

I wish someday Spacedock talks about Barotrauma ships (even though they are "submarines" and the game is about making your own design)

I'm not a writer, I'm a reader of scifi. I love these videos

Something about this is like looking at an 1800's explanation for how ornithopters work.

One think I remember from the old Independance war game is that the hero ship's size is mostly tokomak ring. There's engineering spaces inside the ring, and engine on the back, a cockpit on the front, and a pair of weapon pylons to either side. But reactor to mass, that thing's CRAZY.

I appreciate the space engineers music for a video about powering a spaceship XD

3:16 that’s how we do it in Space engineers! Don’t ask how it complies with Thermodynamics

PSA: Various hypothecized/proposed methods for nuclear propulsion in space are portrayed in Terra Invicta

We must power our ships with the Force of Love!!!!