Warp Drive
The Warp Drive is a FTL-technology based on a solution of field equations in general relativity, by which a spacecraft can achieve faster-than-light travel when a configurable energy-density field lower than that of vacuum (that is, negative mass) is be created.
Rather than exceeding the speed of light within a local reference frame, a spacecraft using a Warp Drive traverses distances by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, resulting in effective faster-than-light travel. Objects cannot accelerate to the speed of light within normal spacetime; instead, the Warp Drive shifts space around an object so that the object will arrive at its destination faster than light would in normal space without breaking any physical laws.
The mechanism of the Warp Drive implies a negative energy density and therefore requires exotic matter. The most commonly used fuel for Warp Drives is Alcubirum, although variants are used, most notably in the Apexia Regency.
Due to the extreme speeds which can be achieved with Warp Drives, travel must be taken along carefully planned routes, so as to not get too close to celestial bodies. Combined with the fact that Warp Drives have significant wind-up and cool-down periods, effective long-distance travel happens mostly along pre-established Hyper Lanes - Routes where the calculations for the long distances have already been performed, either by governmental institutions or private corporations. Most governmental Hyper Lanes are only lightly taxed, while the use of corporate lanes will usually come at a premium.
While the Systems Alliance has made publicly available Hyper Lanes reaching from one end of their territory to the other, many systems remain dependent on commercial lanes or the much slower "Stutter Warping". "Stutter Warping" is a technique in which the Warp Drive is spun up for short bursts of travel, between which a navigator can re-calculate and ensure any miscalculations are corrected for.
Installation of Warp Drives on ships was the smallest of the involved tasks, with a monumental task of mapping territory being the largest.
Rather than exceeding the speed of light within a local reference frame, a spacecraft using a Warp Drive traverses distances by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, resulting in effective faster-than-light travel. Objects cannot accelerate to the speed of light within normal spacetime; instead, the Warp Drive shifts space around an object so that the object will arrive at its destination faster than light would in normal space without breaking any physical laws.
The mechanism of the Warp Drive implies a negative energy density and therefore requires exotic matter. The most commonly used fuel for Warp Drives is Alcubirum, although variants are used, most notably in the Apexia Regency.
Due to the extreme speeds which can be achieved with Warp Drives, travel must be taken along carefully planned routes, so as to not get too close to celestial bodies. Combined with the fact that Warp Drives have significant wind-up and cool-down periods, effective long-distance travel happens mostly along pre-established Hyper Lanes - Routes where the calculations for the long distances have already been performed, either by governmental institutions or private corporations. Most governmental Hyper Lanes are only lightly taxed, while the use of corporate lanes will usually come at a premium.
While the Systems Alliance has made publicly available Hyper Lanes reaching from one end of their territory to the other, many systems remain dependent on commercial lanes or the much slower "Stutter Warping". "Stutter Warping" is a technique in which the Warp Drive is spun up for short bursts of travel, between which a navigator can re-calculate and ensure any miscalculations are corrected for.
History
For a long time, Warp Drives was largely considered irrelevant to intergalactic travel due to the spread of Drift Drives by the Techpriestdom of the Progenitors. With the Drift Beacon Restrictions instituted in 422, however, megacorps started floating the idea of reviving the technology.Installation of Warp Drives on ships was the smallest of the involved tasks, with a monumental task of mapping territory being the largest.
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