The Enzmanns

The Enzmanns revolutionized the world through their work in mathematics, astrophysics, aerospace design, technology, and linguistics. Learn more about their achievements here.

The Gallery of Enzmann Starships

The Enzmann Starship became well-known in the 1970s. Then, it was locked in an attic for over 50 years with the rest of the archive. You can now learn more about the Enzmann Starship, its design, and how it will impact the field of extra-solar travel as we know it.

Dr. Enzmann designed 3 vehicles for star travel based on available research, technology, and engineering – the Enzmann Starships.

The Enzmann Pulse Class Starship relies on a fission-fusion-powered design, complete with a sphere of frozen Deuterium measuring 305 meters. It used 34 nuclear-pulse-propulsion engines, plus 2 dozen more pulse-engine tugs as utility vehicles around the fuel tank. The Enzmann Starships also include long cylindrical habitats joined with the sphere of Deuterium and his signature engineering.

The starships utilize a modular design with three main living areas that were cylindrical modules 300 feet around and 300 feet high each. The entire starship will have an orbital launch mass of 3-12 million tons, with much of that weight being propellant, and would be capable of reaching speeds of 30% the speed of light.

“A true starship is able when reaching a landfall as hospitable as the Earth’s moon to reproduce itself. Yes, this might take a century or more, but it’s fundamental.’ – RDE

The Enzmann Starship in Science Fiction
Dr. Enzmann worked to make space travel a reality before the U.S. space programs were canceled. His starships represent the pre-NASA Space Age that opened many doors to the reality of space exploration and colonization. As a U.S. WWII Navy Pilot, he penned dramatic sci-fi stories about what life would be like on his starships in a world where they came and went and when interstellar colonies were contracted and recognized. For more than 80 years employed in the U.S. space industry, Dr. Enzmann was a prolific writer. It is only with starships that Robert Goddard’s Grand Design – the vision of opening interstellar space to manned flight – will be realized. He defines starships as the Ultimate Human Machines which will be built. His sci-fi stories are being published for the first time by the Foundation for Research of the Enzmann Archive, Inc. (FREA), a non-profit to preserve and publish the work of Dr. Robert Duncan-Enzmann.

Since his starship design appeared on the Analog magazine cover in 1973, the Enzmann Starship has captured the imaginations of the worlds greatest space artists who have painted the Enzmann Starship as a way to reach the stars. Some, not all, are presented here in the ENZMANN STARSHIP GALLERY.