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I'm working on a space opera game that is relatively hard science fiction. There is no artificial gravity systems. (other than acceleration etc.) Other than Jump Drives, which no one knows how they work even in the game, moving around is via Ion drives and reaction engines. If you have a lot of money you might have a nuclear rocket.

I am stretching things a bit by saying you can get out of a solar system in a month. According to our technology now, it would take at least 18 months by my calculations.

So I'm trying to figure out how to power these spacecraft. Obviously there's solar cells but they only are really useful to about Mars' orbit.

Hydrogen fuel cells seem like a good idea. If you needed to, you could dump it in a reaction engine and get some acceleration. I hear that hydrogen is also a good radiation barrier. I'm not really sure how, but I read that somewhere. So Yay hydrogen fuel cells. The question is, can you carry enough hydrogen? I'm skeptical.

Reactors or nuclear batteries seem like a good fit, but do you really want dozens if not hundreds of nuclear payloads flying around near your planet? I'm making piracy a real thing to be reckoned with so the idea of my reactor getting damaged is pretty terrifying.

LENR reactors would be awesome but they're not proven technology. EM drives would also solve a lot of problems but again, no one has a clue how they work.

What do you think? Should I include theoretically possible but unproven tech? Or should I keep it as hard Science Fiction as I can? Are there any power sources I'm not thinking of?

here is an idea for you...the power source is also the waste management system.. <--- with beter strains and at a X1,000,000 size

Unfortunately the article says that they only are useful for low power applications. Anything that's going to be useful for Ion Drive propulsion needs to be putting out power in at least the Megawatt range. A MFC could be useful as a life support power supply though.

who is to say with the right application of genetics and advancement of tech it couldn't be more powerful?

That's true, but defeats my purpose. I'm looking for existing technologies that fit the requirements. Something like LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reactor) technology are possible, the reactions they try to harness do occur in the lab and scientists are working on making them viable, but no one knows when or if that will happen.

EM Drives have made a lot of headlines lately. NASA confirmed that their models actually generate propulsion but no one knows why. Without knowing why it seems to be working, there is a strong possibility that the tests are somehow in error. You could just strap the thing to a spaceship and see if the darn thing flies away but that's just the practical side of me.

I bring these up because I'm trying to keep the story to "". Where I'm only making up my jump drives. If I go with speculative science that's going on now, then that drops the game to "physics plus".

I may not be able to keep it to that though.

Fusion could work. I'm dubious if it will ever actually be developed but it's true that not many people would bat an eye at it's inclusion. In reality they'd be very complex and not practical as a mobile power source. Still, I guess it fits the requirements with a wave of the hand like "great advancements in reactor technology".