Space Travel

Our eyes were looking to the stars from the moment we stepped on the ground, no wonder we'd reach for them.
— Professor of Philosophy, UV Oliver Thorn

History of Space travel

It is a commonly accepted fact that humans came to Vega Prime from another world on the U.E.F Paris colony ship. It took the concerted efforts of a good parts of Vega's scientific community and about 60 years of research, to reverse engineer and understand the technology required to breach the atmosphere, but once this was done, humanity never looked back. Over the course of the next 500 years, humans colonized ever nook and cranny of the Vega star system and on year 595 AFL ( First Successful test of the StarRise Drive Jump) humanity reached for the stars.

Atmospheric Flight

Due to the fact that construction costs are significantly lower and that all the materials required are easily accessible and transported, for hundreds of years spacefaring vehicles are built in orbit around planets or in deep space stations. Although most modern ship engines ( Particle impulse, Induction Engine ) are atmosphere flight capable the transition between space and atmosphere can still be harmful to the ship's hull. Unless really needed most spacefaring vessels do not enter the atmosphere of a planet. Of course this excludes landers and launches specifically designed to do so.

First Generation ships

First generation spaceships equipped with Fusion Torch or Ion Expulser engines are not able to enter atmosphere at all unless they are also equipped with a Planetary Thruster.

FTL Capabilities

Over 90% of the ships currently in flight on the systems of The Reach are not StarRise capable. A good proportion of the ships never leave their home systems, and those who do make sure of the StarRise Gates system of the Core star systems or make use of a Star Carrier or a Star Cruiser ship.

The Highway

The StarRise Gateways system is formed of a chain of multiple gates that create a bubble that engulfs a large number of ships and catapults them through Hyperspace (a.ka. the Tequila). Under normal circustances a Gateway is fired every 5 cycles (it takes 3.14159 cycles to recharge). All Core system gates are owned by The Accord and vehicles traveling through them are charged a fee based on their mass at the point of travel.

The roads less travelled

It is rumoured that some isolated clusters of space in the Inner Rim and Outer Rim have their own private Gateway systems. Also it known that the Accord Navy Force also operates and hidden network of Gateways across The Reach

FTL Drives

There are 3 predominant types of Faster than Light drives, all of them making use of Hyperspace to achieve travel that otherwise would take years through normal space. By far the most commonly used is the StarRise Gate Bubble system utilized by the Highway gateway system. Each gate is in fact the shell of a StarRise engine with the only difference that the bubble created is not facing outwards but inwards of the shell, creating a sphere between the four arcs of the gate that is powered by a spherical core-accumulator in the ceter, that is being catepulted through Hyperspace to a location on another star system. Due to the immensity of the gates and the massive Mass Reactors attached to them, Gates are able to execute hyperspace leaps comparable to those of a Super Heavy dreadnaught or a Colony ship the size of U.E.F Paris. Each leap takes exactly 84 arcs * Individual ships of almost all sizes equipped a StarRise drive linked to a Mass Reactor can execute a Hyperspace leap. A StarRise Core requires 10% of the ship's mass. Based on the mass of a ship, each leap can traverse a distance between 5 and 50 LY, Overcharing the drive can raise the distance in lightyears but it requires more power and comes with inherent dangers. Each StarRise Drive leap take exactly 84 arcs to execute. The latest technological breakthrough was the invention of the StarRise Folder. The Folder allows for leaps that can take anything from 1 ray to several cycles and travel to a rate of (0.5 LY / arc). Although the Folder is more efficient than a StarRise Drive it requires 20% of the ship's mass and takes double the energy of a StarRise drive to be activated. On top of that navigation during the leap requires almost constant supervision and several ships trying to execute a Fold-leap never rose out of it. To this date (1085 AFL) this technology is considered dangerous and is not in any sort of civilian or military use.

Star Carriers and Cruisers

A solution for many commercial and civilian vessels is the use of Space Carriers and Cruisers. These massive ships are a way for smaller vessels to hitch a ride on ships which are equipped with a StarRise Drive. A Star Carrier is commonly a large spoke equipped with a variety of docking clamps with a big StarRise Drive and a massive array of Mass Reactor cores or one end and the Bridge and crew quarters on the other. Ships, most commonly trade freighters and constructor platforms, latch onto the spoke of the Carrier and make use of its drive to reach their destination star system. The crew of the ships latched on to the carrier remains in their ship during the period of flight. Star Cruisers are commercially operated liners that allow smaller ships to dock in private or shared hangars. The crew of the ships then can leave their ships at any point, find accomodation if they wish in the Liner and enjoy the entertainment amenities. The quality of accomodation and facilities can vary greatly between liners from extravagant glass-floored swimming pools overlooking space to rust buckets bunking hundreds of people in close quarters that are extort for "insurance" while travelling. Cruisers are also very commonly used for people that board them on a spacestation for planet-to-planet or system-to-system travel.

Special thank to Vince REDACTED for the idea of "Taking a shot" as a slang for a hyperspace leap, and Endrise for his helpful suggestions.

The Tequila

"The Tequila" is the name given to hyperspace due to the fact that during a hyperspace leap no stars are visible and space is filled with an amber cloudy liquid-like substance which resembles Tequila. In addition to that. It is said that the process of StarFall (entering a hypespace-leap) and StarRise (emerging into normal space) feels like downing a shot of mild tequila, thus the saying "Bottoms up" that many sailors use during StarRise and "Taking a shot" meaning doing a hyperspace leap.

Types of Space faring vehicles

By Chassis Type

In general terms space faring vehicles as separated into 3 different distinct methodologies of design, Military, Civilian and Commercial, with the latter two closer to each other.

Military Vessels

are spartan, clean and more simplified design that focuses on durability and increased protection while making use of most available space in the smallest volume possible. In simple words. Smaller, more agile vessels make for harder to hit targets.

Civilian Vessels

are spacious, and focus on the well being of their crew. Although quality is important, the focus is moved away from high spec armor or sensory equipment and is focused towards comfort, and protection redundancy.

Commercial Vessels

are lean, the focus is efficiency of space and function. The life of the crew is comfortable but the space is allocated towards the use of the vehicle. Cargo hold space, workshops, labs, heavy machinery need more power and specialised equipment like auxiliary systems, specialised sensors and comms are employed.