Hyperspace
From ExodusWar
Hyperspace is a multidimensional region where the speed of light is many times greater than it is in normal space, allowing ships equipped to "jump" into hyperspace to travel many times faster than Normal C (3x108 M/S).
Higher hyperspace levels have a higher value of C. They also are more difficult to navigate, enter, and depart safely, requiring greater levels of power, more sophisticated jump drives, and better astrogation systems.
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[edit] Terran Hyperspace Development
Terran hyperspace travel begins in the early 21st century with the Russian development of the Volstamik-Krenschov Jump Drive, the first drive capable of entering hyperspace.
Yuri Krenschov created a generator capable of opening a window into hyperspace, by creating a field known as the Krenschov Effect. Every experimental ship entering subsequently destroyed itself, drained its power reserves, or never returned.
When Yuri Krenschov published his findings, Martina Volstamik approached him with her own research into power regulation at unusually high levels. Her device added the Volstamik Factor, which determines how long a ship can remain at a given band of hyperspace.
[edit] Ixoarchada Hyperspace Development
The Ixoarchada managed to enter the Adin Band early in their history, sometime in the 1st Century. A scientist named Korban Rillde invented their first hyperspace jump drive, which was limited to the Dva Band.
In the 22nd Century, Vellidus Ramius and a research team in Iridi Daukinse created the first Toren Device--a hyperspace drive capable travel through the Pyat Band for extended periods. The maximum attainable band that Ixoarchada hyperspace drives can reach is not known, although observations of Ixoarchada ship movements suggests at least Shest Band or higher.
[edit] Hyperspace Bands
While they were not the first to discover Hyperspace or the first to travel at higher bands, the Terrans were the most thorough in their exploration and cataloquing of the bands in Hyperspace. They established the Volstamik-Krenschov Scale, and it is the international standard used on every human Jump Drive built to date.
[edit] Adin Band
In the first level--the Adin Band--C has a constant of 12x108 M/S, roughly 4xC. Most Jump Drives use this band for high speed travel within a star system's hyperspace limit.
[edit] Dva Band
The Dva Band has a top possible speed of 16xC. It is rarely used anymore due to even local stellar trips taking at least eight months.
[edit] Tri Band
The Tri Band of hyperspace took Terran researchers by surprise. The speed of light did not change at a constant rate. Researchers were expecting the third level to allow travel at 64xC, but it was actually 100xC. The Tri Band is still used today as a cruising speed for local star shipping, as enormous amounts of cargo can be shipped across 10 light years in a little over a month for a negligable power cost.
[edit] Chetryi Band
The Chetryi Band is exponentially more energetic than the Tri Band. Ships using it can reach a practical top speed of 30000xC. Today, the Chetryi Band is the most commonly used level of hyperspace for long range travel. The power requirements to enter the Chetryi Band are very high.
[edit] Pyat Band
Most modern military warships can use the Pyat Band, with a top speed of 90000xC. The Mesarthrim, Reigens and Ixoarchada have enough power output to use the Pyat Band as a cruising speed, while most other nations can only use the Pyat Band in limited bursts.
[edit] Shest Band
The Prefecture uses the most modern version of the Volstamik-Krenschov Jump Drive, with an advanced Krenschov Effect field generator capable of reaching the Shest Band for limited bursts. The Shest Band is capable of speeds of 182500xC, and could conceivably cross a Galactic Arm in two months, if the Krenschov effect could be held at Shest Band levels for that period of time.
[edit] Sem Band
No human ship built to date can use the Sem Band, but it has been charted with a top speed of 250000xC.
[edit] Vosem Band
No human ship built to date can use the Vosem Band, but it has been charted with a top speed of 600000xC. It is believed that the Vosem Band is the Ngrligru cruising speed.
[edit] Devyat Band
No human ship built to date can use the Devyat Band, but it has been charted with a top speed of 950000xC.
[edit] Desyat Band
Only Meroniri vessels have ever been able to reach the Desyat Band, the theoretical top hyperspace band before the Quantum Singularity. The Desyat Band is the Meroniri cruising speed, with a speed of light at 1.8 million times the speed of light in normal space.
[edit] Detection
Detecting a ship in hyperspace is not possible by any known means. Opening a window into hyperspace requires the use of the Krenschov Effect, which causes so much gravitational distortion that gravity sensors are useless. Light travels faster in all bands of hyperspace, making all optical, radar, and other wave-based sensor systems pointless: by the time they relay data about anything, the object they are detecting is long gone. An optical probe system can give some advanced warning via Ansible network if it is placed out far enough.
The Krenschov Effect is an almost explosive event, making any ship entering or exiting hyperspace very easy to detect. A hole torn between normal space and hyperspace produces enormous amounts of graviational distortion, electromagnetic energy, gamma radiation, and too many other forms of energy to list. It is visible as a brief but brilliant burst of light in a variety of spectrums.
Depending on the level of hyperspace the ship was traveling in, its Volstamik Factor, and depending on the shield technology it uses, a ship brings a significant amount of different types of exotic hypermatter particles. This can be used to conclude to a forensic level what technology base a ship uses. The course, point of origin, and type of vessel cannot be determined, though the mass of the ship can be, making it easy to tell the difference between the passage of a Reigen freighter and a Mesarthrim battleship.
The Adin and Dva Bands of hyperspace are relatively safe, but when ships began exploring using the Tri Band, they began running into hyperspace flotsam known as hypermatter. Hypermatter is expelled into normal space when a Krenschov Effect is created by a ship leaving hyperspace, but hypermatter cannot exist long in normal space and decays into a wide array of exotic matter particles. While it exists, hypermatter is extraordinarily dangerous. In the Tri Band, hypermatter is not particularly common, and can be survived. In the Chetryi Band, shield technology is necessary for a ship to simply survive even a brief hyperspace hop.
While the Bands of hyperspace are mapped, a ship's Krenschov Effect is never exactly the same. No two ships would ever cross paths in hyperspace, making battle in hyperspace impossible. With inconsistent Krenschov Effects, detection of a ship from hyperspace is even more difficult to accomplish than in normal space.
[edit] Navigation
Hyperspace navigation has two severe limitations: vast gulfs of space with no gravitational fields--such as the space between Galactic Arms or between galaxies--have no hyperspace bands other than the Adin Band. Hyperspace too near stars or planets is so full of hypermatter that any ship coming near it is torn to shreds.
This has led to carefully mapped hyperspace lanes and approach paths. Most ships must take a predictable route, regardless of the Hyperspace Band they're using. This is what gives worlds their only warning: setting up optical probes far out enough and at predictable points for the Ansible network to give them a small warning. Usually, it's arriving mere seconds before an incoming ship.
