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New modern
theories about gravity space drives are few and far between,
as most concepts about the nature of gravity and gravitons was
long ago decided and settled in the larger scientific
communities of both the Federation and the Empire. Radical
hypotheses that challenge the status quo, when they do arise,
are largely dismissed out of hand as many consider gravity
mechanics to be fully understood. The few proponents who
insist otherwise are often derided as simple dreamers unable
to face what most other scientists claim to be undisputable
fact.
Both Imperial and
Federation sources alike have managed to develop gravity
technology to a rather crude extent, allowing for the creation
of gravity lifts, tractor beams, and repulsor technology, but
attempts at creating a gravity space drive useful for
interplanetary or even interstellar travel have proven to be
futile and impractical. The Yuufusion
Imperium, however, is a story quite different. Amazon
scientists, in their series of studies which eventually lead
to the discipline of
ASFLUX physics, learned early on how to solve many of the
feasibility and practicality problems involved in making an
efficient sublight gravity drive.
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Yuufusion starships,
both military and civilian, rely on gravity propulsion drives to
cross interplanetary distances. Coupled with hyperdrive, Amazon
starships are able to successfully traverse interstellar and
interplanetary distances and project influences far beyond their
established borders for purposes of trade, exploration, diplomacy,
or military action. The gravity drive provides comparable
accelerations and maneuverability to most
ion drives, but require no solid matter exhaust to operate,
and are less prone to overheating, burnout, or wearing.
| The concepts behind gravity
propulsion are more complicated than those which support
ion propulsion, but are still relatively simple compared
with other technologies which make interstellar and
intergalactic community possible. Since all gravity drives
were derived from the same discipline of studies spearheaded
for
ASFLUX physics under the Yuufusion Imperium, they all
share a similar proprietary design. When the gravity engine is
activated, gaseous hydrogen is pumped through a magnetic
suction turbine (1) and passed into a coolant chamber (2). The
chamber reduces the temperature of the hydrogen to 24.26
degrees Kelvin, liquefying it. Temperature is carefully
regulated by a series of sensors (3), which ensure hydrogen is
cooled uniformly before being shunted into the injection shaft
(4). From here, finite amounts of the liquefied hydrogen are
pumped into one of a series of of layered rotational
centrifuges (5). The number of layers depends on the mass of
the vessel or the desired power of the engine. The centrifuges
use magnetic accelerators to rotate the compressed liquid
around a central turbine at relativistic speeds. This causes a
series of bipolar gravitational fields to form, each of which
compliments and reinforces the previous field, creating an
immense forward force which propels the vessel through space.
To insure that the compound gravitational field is not
interfered with by other gravity fields, either natural or
artificial, a sensor node is placed at the apex of the engine
assembly which collects and feeds information concerning the
specific gravity conditions prevalent at any given time to a
computer controller (7). |
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Ensuring that a
gravity field generator does not become compromised during flight
is of paramount importance to Yuufusion flight engineers.
Unchecked changes in a compound gravity field can send a vessel
spinning wildly of course, or in a worst-case scenario even cause
the unit to implode.
Properly maintained
and balanced gravity engines, however, will often perform on par
with most
ion drives, but require much less energy to operate and less
space to install. And since the engines require no exhaust port,
they can be placed deep inside of a vessel, protected by layers of
armor and shielding, with no visible outward sign of their
existence. Gravity drives also lack the telltale ionic
interferences that accompany the use of
ion drives or
impulse drives, which can either confuse ship sensors
(creating blind spots in certain conditions) or leave an undesired
ion trail for a clever enemy to follow. Minute gravity wave
disturbances, instead, are the signs of gravdrive use, but more
often than not, enemy vessels are not equipped to analyze and
track such subtle clues. |
