Material Description
Ignition Crystals are small lumps of semi-seethrough crystal, the crystals vary in colour from dark blues, greens, and purples. Most of these crystals have a hollow in their centre that contain a sludgy dark burgundy liquid, that is oily when touched. The liquid, is highly flammable and very volatile, igniting upon impact pressure or short exposure to air. Usually igniting after ten to twenty seconds of exposure depending on how fast it is exposed and the level of oxygen in the air composition. The heat released is incredible, reaching temperatures exceeding a star, but only for a few brief moments.
Uses and Flaws
The main use for Ignition Crystals is as its name suggests, for the purpose of ignition and lighting, especially difficult materials. Most commonly it is used in the ignition of unlit spacecraft drive engines. Spacecraft in The Delta Space use specially designed drive engines to traverse interplanetary space, and these engines, even when the spacecraft is not in operation are still active, albeit at a greatly reduced capacity. This is because it takes an immense amount of energy to start the drive engine from a completely cold state. This necessitates the engine to keep itself warm so that it can properly amp up its energy production when required with less difficulty.
If the drive engine does become fully cooled, or it is a freshly built engine, Ignition Crystals are the perfect material to kickstart it into operating shape. When Ignition Crystals are cracked open, the liquid within will ignite and will burn at an intense heat, equal or greater than some stars, for a few short moments. This intense ignition is enough to light the engine's pilot light so to speak, a small internal ignition wick that sits inside the drive engine's main shaft. This ignition wick is what keeps the engine warm and running, even when the ship is off as it is made of material that holds heat incredibly well, but is ironically extremely difficult to light. When the engine is turned on to operating power, the pilot dials up the heat of the ignition wick allowing the drive engine up to reach full operating power.
Other uses for Ignition Crystals have been tested, but these experiments have mostly failed. Attempts at weaponizing the volatile material have been attempted but the crystals proved to be too fragile to be used in combat. Causing significant damage and injury to equipment and personnel involved in the testing. The crystals have also been tested for use in igniting industrial-grade burners that use a similar setup as the drive engines on spacecraft. These tests have been met with more success but since the burners are much larger in size they require a larger quantity of Ignition Crystals, which are difficult to mine and ship safely. Making this use difficult from a cost perspective, though testing continues in attempts to find better efficiencies.
The crystals are very fragile though and can be easily cracked or broken, making careful handling important. As such, they are often carried around in special briefcases that are padded on the inside and have built-in balancing arrays to help reduce any potential impact from being dropped or bumped. But accidents do still occur and are often catastrophic due to the intense heat emitted. Common damage includes burnt holes in ships, completely melted computers and other systems, and severe burns that often lead to death on individuals. Typically, space stations and similar facilities have built-in defences towards these sorts of materials but some older models do not and have led to some of the more horrific accidents in The Delta Space.
Sources and Economy
Ignition Crystals are almost never found on their own and are commonly found in small clusters clinging onto the sides of meteorites and asteroids. Usually in sources that contain softer metals like copper, aluminum, or nickel. These sources of Ignition Crystals are only found in space, or at least no sources have been found on any planet thus far. It is hypothesized that these strange liquid-filled crystals can't form on planets due to their sensitive nature, combusting upon even the slightest of impact. Instead, they are often found clinging on to slow-moving asteroids in space, typically in the midst of small listless asteroid fields or belts. Ironically, it is easier to find Ignition Crystals in smaller asteroid belts, as the larger ones typically show more chaotic behaviour and tend to bounce and sway more often causing Ignition Crystals that have formed to crack and leak their contents into space. Luckily, since there is no oxygen in the void combustion doesn't occur and the liquid is rendered inert from the intense cold.
There are many mining communities that make their living off of collecting these ignition crystals, sending out workers to carefully collect the crystals one by one by hand. Using small spacecraft to travel to collections of asteroids that have Ignition Crystals growing on them. They actually have to leave their spacecraft, donning spacesuits and carefully breaking off the crystals using specially designed tools. The process typically takes hours and only yields a few dozen crystals per haul.
It is actually one of the few industries that haven't been overtaken by the MegaCorpos, as they have not found a method that increases productivity without greatly increasing cost. Instead, they leave it to small, often nomadic communities, that roam space collecting these Ignition Crystals. These nomadic miners gladly sell their share to the Corpos looking to buy, but they aren't picky and often sell straight to consumers or trade for other goods and services at various space stations and on-planet markets.
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