Translation:Antimatter txt/en
UFOpaedia Entry
Proposal
TO: Base Commander, PHALANX, Atlantic Operations Command
FROM: Cdr. Paul Navarre, R&D: Engineering Division, PHALANX, Atlantic Operations Command
DATE: %02i %s %i
SUB: Proposal: Antimatter
Commander, based on the extremely interesting findings we've made during our examination of the UFO we dismantled, I'd like your permission to use some lab time in order to more closely analyse the aliens' extensive use of antimatter and its implications on this war.
Particularly I would like to see if we can find some way to replicate antimatter for our own purposes. Matter-antimatter annihilation has astonishing potential as a fuel. In terms of energy generation, it has probably the best size-to-weight ratio of any material in the universe; the ability to use it like the aliens use it would catapult our technology base centuries into the future. We must research this at the earliest opportunity!
--Cdr. Navarre
Result
TO: Base Commander, PHALANX, Atlantic Operations Command
FROM: Cdr. Paul Navarre, R&D: Engineering Division, PHALANX, Atlantic Operations Command
DATE: %02i %s %i
SUB: Re: Antimatter
Our study on antimatter is complete, Commander, and we're ready to present our results. I'm afraid the news is mostly bad.
There are a lot of things the aliens know that we don't. Nowhere is this more clear in their widespread use of antimatter. It seems to be plentiful for them, at least plentiful enough to send out UFO after UFO to Earth, burning tanks full of antiprotons. Human experiments into antimatter, on the other hand . . .
The first artificially produced antimatter on Earth consisted of 9 atoms of anti-hydrogen created at the CERN particle physics laboratory, situated near Geneva on the border between France and Switzerland. Not long after, another lab produced approximately 100 atoms. We've come slowly forward over the years in tiny, tiny steps, but even though we can now produce antiprotons by the millions, it's easy to forget just how little that really is.
In fact, the biggest obstacle to our adaptation of the alien fuel is the availability of antiprotons. We've come a long way since 1995, but even with every particle physics laboratory in the world churning out as many antiprotons as possible, it would take eighty million years to produce 1 gramme's worth of antiprotons. By comparison, the amount contained in a UFO's tank exceeds that of all the antimatter produced on Earth over the past hundred years.
Humanity is a long, long way off from being able to create antiprotons in the amounts necessary to fuel these matter-antimatter rockets. The bottom line is, we cannot duplicate this alien technology. We don't know how they create their antimatter or how they manage to generate enough electricity to do so. Unless and until we can get our hands on this equipment, our efforts will be fruitless.
Our only major successes have come from studying how the aliens store their antimatter. We're confident we can employ the same magnetic storage techniques, creating special facilities for safely storing up to ten grammes of antimatter. I've sent you a set of blueprints in a separate message to peruse at your convenience. We've also designed antimatter fuel tanks that should fit in our interceptors given some major overhaul. Of course we'll need a full understanding of the alien engines before we can begin incorporating it.
For all intents and purposes, we are unable to replicate the alien fuel. If we use antimatter in our own technology we will be dependent upon recovering it from alien sources. This seems a dangerous course of action, but we may have no choice; we need to adapt this technology as soon as possible if we are to have any chance of truly stopping the invasion.
--Cdr. Navarre
Links
Research Tree Data
(This information for reference only; do not translate or include in-game.)
Prerequisites: UFO Theory
Opens: Enables use of Antimatter in production Antimatter Storage Upgrade -- Antimatter Engines Antimatter Weaponry (if UFO -- Harvester already researched)