Leap Drive

The Leap Drive is a hypothetical future technological enhancement on the Jump Drive which has a performance measured in thousands of parsecs of travel. It is a 3rd Order of Magnitude Jump Space Drive.

Description (Specifications)

Leap Drives have a high scatter (potentially 1000 parsecs) and thus must be supplemented with lower order drives for safe operation.

FTL Drive Specifications

FTL Drive Specifications (Starship Propulsion)

Category	Specifications	Remarks
Name	Leap Drive	1-9 x 103, min Leap is 1,000 parsecs
Drive Type	FTL: 3rd Order Hyperjump Drive	At least TL-23 is the projected TL of acquisition.
Velocity	1-9 x 103 / 168 hours	@ L-1 this is ~168 parsecs/hour
Duration	168 hours +/- 10%
Hazards	Scatter	Random hex within leap Number x 20 Sectors distant
Physical Constraints	Minkowski (Special relativity)	Four-dimensional travel (3 of space, 1 of time) known as Space-time. Not purely Euclidean in nature.
Geometry	Hyperbolic (Lobachevsky)	L-Space does not seem to be constrained by conventional space-time limitations.
Levels	28-36 of 90+ Please see: Jump Drive/meta	It is conjectured that higher Other-Space Hyperjump levels have tighter weaves. This is conjectured to allow exponentially faster travel. J-6 drives can only travel through the first six levels of "0-Order Hyperjump Space", aka "Jump Space" (It is hypothesized that J-9 drives accessing levels 1-9 will be feasible in the near future).
FTL Calculations	30 minutes to 24 hours estimated	Hyperjump calculations can differ greatly depending on the skill of the astrogator, the quality of the astrogational computer & related astronics, and a variety of other factors. The Ancients are conjectured to have been restrained by none of these limitations. It is thought that they could make near-instantaneous jumps over distances utterly impossible with TL-15 jump technology.
Entry	Non-determinant (not fixed) (Non-gravitic space)	Entry into Leap Space has a 100,000 diameter minimum distance constraint of a gravity well.
Exit	Non-determinant (not fixed) (Non-gravitic space)	Exit from Leap Space has a 100,000 diameter minimum distance constraint of a gravity well.
Fuel	Hydrogen (Electrical energy)	Fusion Plus powerplants are used in most starships for electrical power generation. Higher rated jump drives require much larger fuel supplies. A basic rule of thumb is that a starship requires fuel storage equal to its rating as a percentage of mass. Thus, a J-6 equipped starship will require 60% of its mass in fuel while a J-1 only requires 10%. Collectors possible at TL-14+, but must have a rating matching the jump to be attempted. Antimatter conjectured to be available at TL-19+
Resource Requirements	Lanthanum Zuchai Crystals	Strategic resources vital to the manufacture of Jump Drives. While lanthanum and Zuchai Crystals are common to most starships, some races have experimented with other strategic materials. The Vargr, for instance, have experimented with Barium jump drives with some success.
Inventor	Schilrathen	Some believe that this hypothetical technology was invented by a precursor race called the Schilrathen.
Characteristics	Transgalactic	It is believed that these drives will open up travel to new galaxies in the future.

History & Background

Some researchers and studiers of the artifacts of precursor races believe that some earlier civilizations may have had this technology. The post-Imperial Charted Space first interaction with the Leap Drive is with the species known as the "Schilrathen" of Poros 3. Due to the scatter of the drive the Schilrathen pilots were lost and were having to plot large detours to arrive back at their homeworld.

Expected Drive Development Sequence: NAFAL to FTL

• Relativistic Drive (NAFAL) → Jump Drive → Hop Drive → Skip Drive → Leap Drive → Bound Drive → Vault Drive → Six Drive → Seven Drive → Eight Drive → Nine Drive

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Library Data Referral Tree

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:

Starships:

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Speed-of-Travel

• Speed of Travel

• NAFAL (STL) - (Not As Fast As Light) / (Slower Than Light)
• Light Speed (c)
• FTL - (Faster Than Light) - "Superluminal"

• Astronomical Unit (AU)

» Imperial Standard Astronomical Unit

• Light-second (ls)
• Light-minute (lm)
• Light-hour (lh)
• Light-day (ld)
• Light-week (lw)
• Light-year (ly)
• Parsec (pc)

» Solomani Parsec

» Vilani Parsec ("Deshi")

» Imperial Standard Parsec

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Impulse-Drives

• Spacecraft Drives (Interplanetary Drives)

• Reaction Drives:

• Reaction Rockets:

• R-Drive (Rocket Drive)
• O-Drive (Orion Drive)
• H/P-Drive (HEPlaR Drive)

• Impulse Drives:

(Field Drives / Propellantless Drives)

• Z-Drive (Lifter / <1.0 D)
• G-Drive (Gravity Drive / <10.0 D)
• M-Drive (Maneuver Drive or Thruster Plate / <1000.0 D)
• N-Drive (NAFAL Drive / <¹/₈ ly)

• Reactionless Drives:

• T-Drive (Reactionless Thruster: Gyroscopic Inertial Thruster (GIT) or Dean Space-Thruster Drive)

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Jump-Space-Drives

Jump Drive (J-Drive />100 D)

Background & History:

• Jump Drive History
• Jump Space

Components & Key Resources:

• Jump Governor
• Lanthanum
• Zuchai Crystal

Lore:

• Microjump
• Misjump
• Time In Jump

• Jump Dimming
• Jump Flash
• Jump Shadow

• Jump Bridge
• Jump Damper
• Jump Projector

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Interstellar-Drives (Advanced)

• Starship Drives (Interstellar Drives)

• N-Drive (NAFAL Drive / < ¹/₈ ly)
• Jump Space Drives

• Jump Space
• Jump Drive History

• Jump Governor
• Nexus Linkage Device
• Nth Order Jump Space Drives: ("Otherspace Hyperjump Drives")

• J-Drive - Jump Drive (JD₀: "0th" Order Jump Space Drive / > 100 D)
• H-Drive - Hop Drive (HD₁: 1st Order Jump Space Drive / > 1000 D)
• S-Drive - Skip Drive (SD₂: 2nd Order Jump Space Drive / > 10,000 D)
• L-Drive - Leap Drive (LD₃: 3rd Order Jump Space Drive / > 100,000 D)
• B-Drive - Bound Drive (BD₄: 4th Order Jump Space Drive / > 1,000,000 D)
• V-Drive - Vault Drive (VD₅: 5th Order Jump Space Drive / > 10,000,000 D)

• D₆-Drive - "Six Drive" (D₆: 6th Order Jump Space Drive / > 100,000,000 D)
• D₇-Drive - "Seven Drive" (D₇: 7th Order Jump Space Drive / > 1,000,000,000 D)
• D₈-Drive - "Eight Drive" (D₈: 8th Order Jump Space Drive / > 10,000,000,000 D)
• D₉-Drive - "Nine Drive" (D₉: 9th Order Jump Space Drive / > 100,000,000,000 D)

• Hieronymous Device ("Jump Potentiator" / "Jump Exponentiator")

• Conjectural Drives

• "Inertialess Drives":

» Inertialess Drive ("I_M -Drive")

» Triplanetary Drive ("I_T -Drive")

• Improbable Drive
• Hieronymous Drive
• Alcubierre Drive ("Albuquerque Drive")
• Reality Drive

• Alternative Interstellar Drive Technologies

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References & Contributors (Sources)

This article has metadata.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), 280.
• Contributor: Ackehece