Anti-Gravity
Anti-gravity (also called gravity manipulation) is a technology used to alter the properties of gravity within a localised area. Invented by most species in the mid-to-late 22nd century CE, it is most commonly found on starships in the form of artificial gravity, and in vehicles that utilise repulsor technology to levitate slightly above the ground. Anti-gravity is provided via a gravity generator, the size of which is determined by the scale of the gravity field being manipulated. Starships and vehicles power their gravity generators through their onboard reactors or engines, while buildings utilising anti-gravity technology draw directly from a planetary power grid. The development of anti-gravity engineering has revolutionised the field of architecture in the past century, with the traditional constraints of physics no longer fully applying.
Ground-based vehicles and starships both benefit from repulsor technology in similar ways. By projecting an anti-gravity field only a short distance from the bottom of the vehicle, it can be made to hover with minimal energy cost. Hover cars are popular, albeit very expensive luxury items throughout the galaxy, and hover tanks are used by many militaries. In order to safely land within gravity wells, repulsor fields are used to slow down starships as they descend from orbit, allowing vertical take off and landing nearly anywhere.
The main drawback of anti-gravity technology is the immense power requirements. Buildings and starships are capable of mostly ignoring this due to their immense power generation abilities, but ground vehicles and personal wear are significantly impacted by this. Hover tanks, for example, are much more lightly armed and armoured compared to tracked or wheeled vehicles, with their agility and mobility being a tradeoff. Personal-scale repulsor craft have long been touted as the replacement for jet packs, but remain much more expensive and rare. Their main purpose is in zero-g environments, where less gravity manipulation is required to move objects.
Ground-based vehicles and starships both benefit from repulsor technology in similar ways. By projecting an anti-gravity field only a short distance from the bottom of the vehicle, it can be made to hover with minimal energy cost. Hover cars are popular, albeit very expensive luxury items throughout the galaxy, and hover tanks are used by many militaries. In order to safely land within gravity wells, repulsor fields are used to slow down starships as they descend from orbit, allowing vertical take off and landing nearly anywhere.
The main drawback of anti-gravity technology is the immense power requirements. Buildings and starships are capable of mostly ignoring this due to their immense power generation abilities, but ground vehicles and personal wear are significantly impacted by this. Hover tanks, for example, are much more lightly armed and armoured compared to tracked or wheeled vehicles, with their agility and mobility being a tradeoff. Personal-scale repulsor craft have long been touted as the replacement for jet packs, but remain much more expensive and rare. Their main purpose is in zero-g environments, where less gravity manipulation is required to move objects.
Comments