Gravity Plates

Written by skairunner

Gravity plates are large flat structures that are used to simulate planetoid gravity, particularly on space stations. They are heavy, expensive, and consume large amounts of power, so very few ships have gravity plates. Also, gravity plates are difficult to make in shapes other than wide and flat, imposing a minimum size limit.

Space Health

Gravity plates are most useful for stations with long-term inhabitants as it makes daily life much easier for those not used to microgravity. They are a luxury feature, and a particularly appreciated one, as they enable simple enjoyments such as showers and sitting at a table to dine. Jovians are used to even higher gravity, and the more influential Senators might even refuse to stay at a station without a gravity plate installed.
Gravity plates are also beneficial for staying healthy in space. Resisting the pull of gravity naturally exercises one's muscles and strengthens bones, so staying fit in microgravity requires extra effort in the form of regular exercise. With gravity plates, space denizens don't need to do any of that.

Two Faces

Gravity plates create a field of gravity on each of its sides that rapidly weakens as you move away from the source. The strength of the gravity field cannot be changed after the plate has been manufactured, nor does it vary depending on the power supplied.
Gravity plates start producing their full design strength as soon as the appropriate amount of power is provided. No gravity is produced before, and extra power is dissipated as heat.

Through The Gravity Plate

Traveling through a gravity plate is an unpleasant experience. You can feel half of your body being pulled strongly in one direction and the other half in the complete opposite one. It also takes a fair amount of physical effort and coordination to lift one's body through the plate. Those not used to the feeling might become sick after transiting the plate, if they succeed at all.
Stations are usually designed so normal visitors don't need to travel through the plate. Smaller stations might place their maintenance facilities and machinery on the opposite side of the plate as to the public area. Bigger stations use elevators that travel just inside the edge of the gravity field's effect in order to fully utilize each plate.

Manufacture

In the past, gravity plates were exclusively produced by a single company, Gravimetrics Unlimited, owned by Quo, a Merchant Prince of Saturn . The methods and materials were kept a close secret. After many attempts by rival Princes, one spy was able to steal the secret of gravity plates. It was posted on SWAN, ensuring that the gravity plate monopoly was forever ended, though the precise series of events that led to this happening is not known. Speculation abounds, and at least one dramatization, Prometheus, God of Gravity, portrays it as a last ditch effort to democratize gravity plate technology.
Even with the method of manufacture revealed, Gravimetrics Unlimited did not go bankrupt. Making gravity plates is a precision process, and Gravimetrics had the advantage of a fully established process and secure sources of oortite directly from Pluto. Plus, ship and stationbuilders are often conservative when switching providers. The company's massive profit margin was still severely undercut, though. Today, gravity plate manufacturers exist on Mars, Luna, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Oortite Gold Rush

The gravity plate documents on SWAN revealed that the key material involved in the process is oortite, a rare form of crystal that is found almost exclusively in the Kuiper Belt and beyond. It is dangerous when unprocessed. Previously to this, oortite was obscure and known mostly by niche scientists.
Catapulted into the spotlight, though, oortite became a mysterious and alluring material that had the potential to make someone filthy rich. An ill-fated gold rush of underprepared, over eager civilians launched expeditions to the Kuiper Belt and met horrible fates.

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