Post by Insano-Man on Sept 24, 2018 9:15:24 GMT -5
To Infinity & Beyond
Faster-than-light travel is the key to modern space travel, commerce, and the sustainability of interstellar empires and colonies dependent on supplies from outside their own star system. In short, much of what is present as of 2203 A.F. would not exist should faster-than-light travel have proven itself impossible. It has undoubtedly found its way to the heart of all commercial, colonial, and military operations that have occurred in the past eight hundred years.
However, as crucial as the technology for a faster-than-light drive is, few can claim to understand it very well. The technology is certainly not alien - in fact, the first FTL drive fielded with success was an original concept from the Ollenhall Administration's government-owned research facilities - but it is difficult to comprehend for a single person without several decades' worth of high-level scientific education*. Research into the long-term effects of faster-than-light travel on both living creatures and matter itself has only begun to solve some of the many mysteries this technology has presented.
Ways & Means
There are currently two forms of faster-than-light travel in operation; the photon collection array and the gluon seperator matrix. Both photons and gluons are massless particles utilized to travel faster than light.
The photon collection array was developed at some point between 1600 A.F. and 1871 A.F. by the Inkron. The precise date is unknown as the time of its inception as a practical form of faster-than-light travel was scarred by a long civil war within the Inkron Governance Sphere, clouding much of the historical records with propaganda and false claims.
By comparison to the gluon seperator matrix, photon collection arrays are less efficient and reliable, requiring nearly empty space to achieve faster-than-light speeds and requiring more time and energy than a seperator matrix to achieve desired velocities. Additionally, photon collection arrays are incredibly inefficient at slowing down and managing the energy they generate in transit efficiently. In military applications, collection arrays are even greater liabilities, as they require external devices on a ship which cannot be properly armored against energy weapon attacks, particularly lasers. This problem is made much more serious as activating a collection array completely compromises a ship's ability to remain undetected, sending electromagnetic radiation in all directions at varying speeds.
However, while the photon collection array is functionally worse than the gluon seperator matrix, it is far more economically viable for less advanced spacefaring nations and companies. It is cheap and simple to build, repair, and maintain - so far as a method of faster-than-light travel goes, at least - and demands less understanding of massless particles and their interactions with the forces of nature. Additionally, as of 2203 A.F., most nations and organizations possess the knowledge of how to create and maintain a collection array, making the drives readily accessible should seperator matrixes prove to be too expensive.
While the Inkron developed the first commercially viable collection array, the technology has been known to mankind for quite some time, possibly even during the exodus from Earth. However, prior to the Inkron's use of the technology, the power requirements and a deeply-set scientific belief of its inpracticality led it to be all but forgotten until contact with the Governance Sphere was established.
Photon collection arrays function by absorbing fast-moving photons and utilizing their speed to help accelerate the ship to superluminal velocities. As photons move at the speed of light and not faster than it, the ship must absorb photons from all directions moving towards its destination; for example, if a ship was moving north relative to the observer, it would need to absorb photons moving north, northwest, northeast, and the extremes of each direction. Because of this, the path of a ship utilizing collection arrays is practically unpredictable - a mixed blessing for the military and a problem for civilian vessels. As photons are not physical objects and cannot be used to simply "shove" a ship into superluminal velocities, the absorption process is even more inefficient, requiring a significant transfer period before the energy acquired from each "captured" photon to be transformed into kinetic energy. Likewise, a ship utilizing a collection array is subject to how fast photon particles move through the area it resides in. For example, a ship in clear space would move faster than one in a dense nebula and slower than one in close proximity to a star. However, the latter option would be hazardous at best, as a star's gravity well would greatly disturb a faster-than-light jump.
Photon collection arrays are often referred to as "light sails", "star sails", and - incorrectly - "solar sails". Space vessels that use them are sometimes colloquially referred to as "sailboats" or "glass flowers", referencing the common appearance of the four or more collection arrays extending from the sides of a ship.
The gluon seperator matrix is the most commonly used and advanced form of faster-than-light travel. It was developed by the Ollenhall Administration in 1277 A.F. at the Robin's Legacy Aerotech Laboratory after more than a century of intensive research. The result was the most efficient, practical, and "quiet" faster-than-light drive concieved.
Today, all faster-than-light drives in modern vessels - including Inkron ships, despite the photon collection array's practical origins therein - utilize gluon seperator matrixes, which are, as evidenced by their perfomance, definitively better than their competitor. Gluon matrixes are "flashless", in that they generate no visible emissions in any detectable range, save for the burst of power output required to power a jump. They are also unaffected by regional concerns; a seperator matrix will work equally as efficiently in a dense gas or dust cloud as it will in empty space. They can be stored within vessels, making safety concerns nonexistent short of the craft itself being structurally unsound. Gluon drives also work quickly, providing near-instantaneous propulsion as soon as the ship's power supply reaches its required levels, while retaining the vessel's ability to slow down from the jump.
However, no technology is without its downside; seperator matrixes are complex, costly, and difficult to repair, often requiring large amounts of components to be completely replaced in the event of a drive failure or overcharge. Additionally, only advanced facilities are capable of manufacturing the drives and their replacement components, meaning most users must purchase them from others. This has resulted in some organizations finding themselves in the positions of unintentional local monopolies on space travel.
Gluon seperator matrixes work by forcing gluons away from their counterparts with little energy expended. As there is insufficient energy expended, new gluons will not be formed to pair with the separated gluons, forcing the two to attempt to pair with eachother again. As they cannot, the force exerted propels them - and the vessel containing the matrix - in the direction of the most powerful source of exerted energy, typically the ship's impulse engines. However, this explanation is purely conjecture; few understand how this process creates faster-than-light travel and even fewer are able to properly articulate this to others. Those who can are able to be counted on one hand, sometimes on one finger depending on the period of history in question.
Further mystifying this subject are the effects of gluon seperator matrixes, both on the crew and the vessel. Often times, when passing through large numbers of similar gravitational fields for extended periods of time, a ship and - in some extreme cases only - the overall physical build of the crew staffing it will be minutely curved away from the pull of the fields. The effect on living tissue is temporary, as the body - through processes as yet unknown and under study - will eventually reform itself to its original shape, but the physical effects on machinery and inorganic materials is permanent and costly to repair. Additionally, personnel onboard report strange experiences at the very beginning of the jump, a feeling of already being at the location in the instant before actually arriving. So intense is this feeling that it appears almost like an out-of-body experience without the senses corresponding to it; a person's mind rejects what is present and instead attempts to form a picture of what would be experienced at the destination - in many cases, an eerily accurate picture regardless of the person's familiarity with the destination. This dissonance between mind and body can easily disorient even the most trained and experienced crewmen and disturb unprepared individuals for years to come. Another bizarre phenomenon is the illusion of the seperator matrix itself existing at the exact center of mass of the vessel and its crew combined while the ship is in transit. This visual display cannot be touched, felt, or otherwise interacted with beyond being seen. This image often shifts erratically as the vessel passes by or through gravitational fields. The final strange occurrence present with the use of seperator matrixes is the strange blackening of the exterior hull of the ship. A layer of only a few molecules thick, only enough so that the ship appears visually black, manifests on the vessel while travelling. However, the elements composing these molecules remain unknown to human science, their only related compounds found in the First Arm Barrier.
While science may have unlocked the gate to efficient, practical interstellar travel, some believe that these oddities may prove that this gate may also have been the lid to Pandora's box. The correlation between the "black matter" and the elements composing the First Arm Barrier lends some credence to this point of view, but is often dismissed as unfounded, sometimes even as a crackpot doomsday prediction. This is thanks to the long period of use of the seperator matrix and the absence of any long-term, far-reaching ill effects from its use.
* Author's Note: I will be plainly honest here and say much of what I've written here probably makes little sense scientifically and is more than likely practically impossible, even if we advanced our current understanding of everything by thousands of years.
However, the Anchorage Universe needs some way to get around space, so I came up with what sounded like something that'd make half-sense to someone not too acquainted with particles and quarks and all that other quantum science that makes most people's heads hurt just reading about it. If any of this somehow works, good. If not, I'm not going to pretend I know what I'm talking about. I would prefer most of this is kept outside of RPs and not widely referenced in canon - I'd prefer vagueness and absence of information than made-up science and nonsensicality, as much as I may have gone against that in this post. In fact, I dare say I may have practiced what I preached against in the matrix's side-effects, but this was more for flavor than anything - components of this article I have no qualms with usage of.
Faster-than-light travel is the key to modern space travel, commerce, and the sustainability of interstellar empires and colonies dependent on supplies from outside their own star system. In short, much of what is present as of 2203 A.F. would not exist should faster-than-light travel have proven itself impossible. It has undoubtedly found its way to the heart of all commercial, colonial, and military operations that have occurred in the past eight hundred years.
However, as crucial as the technology for a faster-than-light drive is, few can claim to understand it very well. The technology is certainly not alien - in fact, the first FTL drive fielded with success was an original concept from the Ollenhall Administration's government-owned research facilities - but it is difficult to comprehend for a single person without several decades' worth of high-level scientific education*. Research into the long-term effects of faster-than-light travel on both living creatures and matter itself has only begun to solve some of the many mysteries this technology has presented.
Ways & Means
There are currently two forms of faster-than-light travel in operation; the photon collection array and the gluon seperator matrix. Both photons and gluons are massless particles utilized to travel faster than light.
The photon collection array was developed at some point between 1600 A.F. and 1871 A.F. by the Inkron. The precise date is unknown as the time of its inception as a practical form of faster-than-light travel was scarred by a long civil war within the Inkron Governance Sphere, clouding much of the historical records with propaganda and false claims.
By comparison to the gluon seperator matrix, photon collection arrays are less efficient and reliable, requiring nearly empty space to achieve faster-than-light speeds and requiring more time and energy than a seperator matrix to achieve desired velocities. Additionally, photon collection arrays are incredibly inefficient at slowing down and managing the energy they generate in transit efficiently. In military applications, collection arrays are even greater liabilities, as they require external devices on a ship which cannot be properly armored against energy weapon attacks, particularly lasers. This problem is made much more serious as activating a collection array completely compromises a ship's ability to remain undetected, sending electromagnetic radiation in all directions at varying speeds.
However, while the photon collection array is functionally worse than the gluon seperator matrix, it is far more economically viable for less advanced spacefaring nations and companies. It is cheap and simple to build, repair, and maintain - so far as a method of faster-than-light travel goes, at least - and demands less understanding of massless particles and their interactions with the forces of nature. Additionally, as of 2203 A.F., most nations and organizations possess the knowledge of how to create and maintain a collection array, making the drives readily accessible should seperator matrixes prove to be too expensive.
While the Inkron developed the first commercially viable collection array, the technology has been known to mankind for quite some time, possibly even during the exodus from Earth. However, prior to the Inkron's use of the technology, the power requirements and a deeply-set scientific belief of its inpracticality led it to be all but forgotten until contact with the Governance Sphere was established.
Photon collection arrays function by absorbing fast-moving photons and utilizing their speed to help accelerate the ship to superluminal velocities. As photons move at the speed of light and not faster than it, the ship must absorb photons from all directions moving towards its destination; for example, if a ship was moving north relative to the observer, it would need to absorb photons moving north, northwest, northeast, and the extremes of each direction. Because of this, the path of a ship utilizing collection arrays is practically unpredictable - a mixed blessing for the military and a problem for civilian vessels. As photons are not physical objects and cannot be used to simply "shove" a ship into superluminal velocities, the absorption process is even more inefficient, requiring a significant transfer period before the energy acquired from each "captured" photon to be transformed into kinetic energy. Likewise, a ship utilizing a collection array is subject to how fast photon particles move through the area it resides in. For example, a ship in clear space would move faster than one in a dense nebula and slower than one in close proximity to a star. However, the latter option would be hazardous at best, as a star's gravity well would greatly disturb a faster-than-light jump.
Photon collection arrays are often referred to as "light sails", "star sails", and - incorrectly - "solar sails". Space vessels that use them are sometimes colloquially referred to as "sailboats" or "glass flowers", referencing the common appearance of the four or more collection arrays extending from the sides of a ship.
The gluon seperator matrix is the most commonly used and advanced form of faster-than-light travel. It was developed by the Ollenhall Administration in 1277 A.F. at the Robin's Legacy Aerotech Laboratory after more than a century of intensive research. The result was the most efficient, practical, and "quiet" faster-than-light drive concieved.
Today, all faster-than-light drives in modern vessels - including Inkron ships, despite the photon collection array's practical origins therein - utilize gluon seperator matrixes, which are, as evidenced by their perfomance, definitively better than their competitor. Gluon matrixes are "flashless", in that they generate no visible emissions in any detectable range, save for the burst of power output required to power a jump. They are also unaffected by regional concerns; a seperator matrix will work equally as efficiently in a dense gas or dust cloud as it will in empty space. They can be stored within vessels, making safety concerns nonexistent short of the craft itself being structurally unsound. Gluon drives also work quickly, providing near-instantaneous propulsion as soon as the ship's power supply reaches its required levels, while retaining the vessel's ability to slow down from the jump.
However, no technology is without its downside; seperator matrixes are complex, costly, and difficult to repair, often requiring large amounts of components to be completely replaced in the event of a drive failure or overcharge. Additionally, only advanced facilities are capable of manufacturing the drives and their replacement components, meaning most users must purchase them from others. This has resulted in some organizations finding themselves in the positions of unintentional local monopolies on space travel.
Gluon seperator matrixes work by forcing gluons away from their counterparts with little energy expended. As there is insufficient energy expended, new gluons will not be formed to pair with the separated gluons, forcing the two to attempt to pair with eachother again. As they cannot, the force exerted propels them - and the vessel containing the matrix - in the direction of the most powerful source of exerted energy, typically the ship's impulse engines. However, this explanation is purely conjecture; few understand how this process creates faster-than-light travel and even fewer are able to properly articulate this to others. Those who can are able to be counted on one hand, sometimes on one finger depending on the period of history in question.
Further mystifying this subject are the effects of gluon seperator matrixes, both on the crew and the vessel. Often times, when passing through large numbers of similar gravitational fields for extended periods of time, a ship and - in some extreme cases only - the overall physical build of the crew staffing it will be minutely curved away from the pull of the fields. The effect on living tissue is temporary, as the body - through processes as yet unknown and under study - will eventually reform itself to its original shape, but the physical effects on machinery and inorganic materials is permanent and costly to repair. Additionally, personnel onboard report strange experiences at the very beginning of the jump, a feeling of already being at the location in the instant before actually arriving. So intense is this feeling that it appears almost like an out-of-body experience without the senses corresponding to it; a person's mind rejects what is present and instead attempts to form a picture of what would be experienced at the destination - in many cases, an eerily accurate picture regardless of the person's familiarity with the destination. This dissonance between mind and body can easily disorient even the most trained and experienced crewmen and disturb unprepared individuals for years to come. Another bizarre phenomenon is the illusion of the seperator matrix itself existing at the exact center of mass of the vessel and its crew combined while the ship is in transit. This visual display cannot be touched, felt, or otherwise interacted with beyond being seen. This image often shifts erratically as the vessel passes by or through gravitational fields. The final strange occurrence present with the use of seperator matrixes is the strange blackening of the exterior hull of the ship. A layer of only a few molecules thick, only enough so that the ship appears visually black, manifests on the vessel while travelling. However, the elements composing these molecules remain unknown to human science, their only related compounds found in the First Arm Barrier.
While science may have unlocked the gate to efficient, practical interstellar travel, some believe that these oddities may prove that this gate may also have been the lid to Pandora's box. The correlation between the "black matter" and the elements composing the First Arm Barrier lends some credence to this point of view, but is often dismissed as unfounded, sometimes even as a crackpot doomsday prediction. This is thanks to the long period of use of the seperator matrix and the absence of any long-term, far-reaching ill effects from its use.
* Author's Note: I will be plainly honest here and say much of what I've written here probably makes little sense scientifically and is more than likely practically impossible, even if we advanced our current understanding of everything by thousands of years.
However, the Anchorage Universe needs some way to get around space, so I came up with what sounded like something that'd make half-sense to someone not too acquainted with particles and quarks and all that other quantum science that makes most people's heads hurt just reading about it. If any of this somehow works, good. If not, I'm not going to pretend I know what I'm talking about. I would prefer most of this is kept outside of RPs and not widely referenced in canon - I'd prefer vagueness and absence of information than made-up science and nonsensicality, as much as I may have gone against that in this post. In fact, I dare say I may have practiced what I preached against in the matrix's side-effects, but this was more for flavor than anything - components of this article I have no qualms with usage of.
