Orion Drive
An Orion Drive is a kind of Nuclear-Pulse Maneuver Drive used on some interplanetary or interstellar vessels. They are a type of Relativistic Drive or Reaction Drive or Impulse Drive.
Description[edit]
Orion Drives are a type of Nuclear Pulse Drive (NPD) that eject a stream of detonators which explode, producing a blast wave that presses against a pressure plate at the rear of the ship moving the ship forward in reaction. The pulsed pressure of the propelling explosions are smoothed out by Massive shock-absorbers. Orion Drives are specified by the type of detonation used for propulsion.
Orion Drive Variations[edit]
The Orion-1 or "Fission Orion" utilizes fission or multistage fission-fusion detonators reacting against a massive pressure plate comprising approximately 10% of the ship's volume. A Fission Orion Drive produces significant radiation contamination as a byproduct of its operation. It is a TL–8-standard propulsion system.
The Orion-2 or "Fusion Orion" utilizes a combination of nuclear dampers, induced fusion, and inertial compensators with a much smaller pressure plate to produce survivable thrust, with low to negligible radioactive contamination byproduct. It is a TL–12-standard propulsion system.
The Orion-3 or "AM Orion" is a conjectural technology that is proposed to be the most advanced incarnation of the Orion Drive concept. It theoretically utilizes antimatter detonators, inertial compensators, and "ON-OFF" stasis fields in place of a pressure plate to produce survivable thrust, while producing no radiation or environmental damage. It is estimated to be approximately a TL–21 propulsion system.
The Hybrid Orion-2bis is a prototype device, utilizing antimatter detonators or antimatter-catalyzed nuclear detonators, inertial compensators, and a small pressure plate (instead of the more advanced and hypothetical stasis field) to produce survivable thrust, while producing no radiation or environmental damage. It is estimated to be a TL–18-standard propulsion system.
History & Background[edit]
No information yet available.
See also[edit]
Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:
Starship:
- Speed of Travel
- Speed of Travel
- Astronomical Unit (AU)
- FTL
- Light Speed (c)
- Light-week (lw)
- Light-year (ly)
- NAFAL (STL)
- Parsec (pc)
References[edit]
- Loren Wiseman. "Sublight Drives." Challenge 72 (1994): .
- Charles E. Gannon. Hard Times (Game Designers Workshop, 1991), 84.
- Frank Chadwick, Dave Nilsen. Fire, Fusion, & Steel (Game Designers Workshop, 1994), 72-73.
- Don Perrin. Starships (Imperium Games, 1996), 71.
- David Golden, Guy Garnett. Fire, Fusion & Steel (Imperium Games, 1997), 65.
- Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), 328-331.