Hyper Drive

The Hyper Drive is a device that allows a spacecraft to travel faster than light by breaching into the dimension of hyperspace. In order to activate, a hyper drive-equipped starship must be outside the gravity well of a star, or any artificial gravity wells created by FTL inhibitors. Once a ship has arrived at a hyperspace conduit (a sphere approximately the size of a particularly large gas giant or small star), it must charge its hyperdrive for several hours. When the drive is fully charged, the relatively weak dimensional barrier at a conduit is breached, creating a momentary portal for the ship to transit through. Inside hyperspace, a ship must move under its own power to the other end of the hyperlane, a distance which is vastly reduced from realspace. At the endpoint of the hyperlane, the hyper drive activates a second time, creating a second portal that shifts the ship back into realspace.

While in hyperspace (or subspace, during an emergency jump, for example), ships are unable to send or receive signals. The subspace bubble that surrounds a ship in hyperspace blocks electromagnetic energy. However, these bubbles, or "echoes" as they are sometimes called, can be detected by sensors in realspace, allowing for advanced surveillance systems to track ships far beyond the range of most realspace sensors. Smaller subspace sensors are typically mounted on starships for the purposes of short-range tracking and traffic management.

One major breakthrough in hyper drive technology was the discovery of hyperlane "breach points"; points in realspace where the dimensional barrier was relatively thin. When a ship engages its hyper drive at one of these points, it can jump to hyperspace at a substantially reduced cost in both charge time and energy expenditure. Starbases track and assign these breach points as part of their traffic control duties..

All hyper drives emit unique hyperparticulates upon activation and deactivation. The unique combination of radiation and these particles can be analysed to determine the class of hyper drive used in a given region of space, and with enough data, even the exact ship can be identified. These drive traces can persist for significant periods of time, with some ancient drive traces having persisted for thousands of years.

The majority of modern spacefaring societies discovered hyperspace and developed the hyper drive around the year 2200 CE, with some exceptions. The infinitismal chance of dozens of independent species nearly simultaneously developing the technology has been a subject of considerable debate, with explanations ranging from precursor meddling, to indirect guidance by the fallen empires, to the whims of the Shroud.

Hyper Drive Failure

While considered a safe and mature technology, hyper drives have been known to fail while in operation. Typically, failure occurs when a drive is powered up and safety features automatically disengage the drive before any serious damage is done to the ship. This usually results in little more than an embarrassing flight to the system's starbase for repairs. However, hyper drive failure inside hyperspace is far more serious. The subspace bubble that surrounds a ship protects it from the different laws of physics in hyperspace - if it fails, everything inside the bubble would be exposed to different laws of physics, causing rapid atomic disassembly. If a hyper drive instead fails mid-transit and cannot open a breach point back to realspace, the ship will become trapped in subspace. No ship has ever been rescued from subspace after its drive has failed.

Subspace Drives

Hyperlanes connect gravity wells at their edges and can allow ships to travel efficiently (in terms of speed and power cost) and safely, but hyper drives can theoretically breach subspace anywhere. Due to the risks involved in a subspace jump, this feature is typically only used in emergencies. Entering subspace outside of a hyperlane causes significant stress to a ship's hull and reactor, and damaged ships have been known to tear themselves apart attempting such a maneuver. In addition, navigation in subspace is nearly impossible without extremely precise sensors. Ships instead follow powerful established subspace beacons at a slow pace to a safe system, where they can exit subspace.

Future Developments

A hypothetical evolution of the hyper drive is the 'jump drive'. Based on the principles of subspace jumps, jump drives would potentially function by creating micro-wormholes that allow ships to travel wherever they want. The primary roadblock to this design is the fact that navigating subspace requires extremely powerful sensors, which usually cost more than the ship itself. One potential solution is to use a different dimension than subspace, possibly one of the many astral planes, or a lower dimension of subspace. Some have even suggested using the Shroud as a conduit for travel, but that carries unimaginable risks.