Jump Drive

The Jump Drive opens a transition to jumpspace. Every ship stays in jump for around one week before entering normal space again. Ships in jump are isolated, and can not detect or communicate anything; they are totally isolated in a small bubble of space until they reemerge into out universe again. Even if two ships side by side (far enough apart to avoid field interference) jump at the same instant, they are totally alone. Cases of field overlap (interference) have been known to result in direction error, range error, system damage, or ship destruction, and is advised against. Jump drives rely on the rare earth element Lanthanum.

The distance travelled during this time depends on the jump rating of the drive. A ship with a Jump 1 Drive will travel one parsec, a ship with a Jump 2 Drive two parsecs and so on. The maximum jump rating at the tech level of the Third Imperium is 6. Study of misjump reports suggests that much greater distances are possible, but at present no way to achieve them in a controllable way is known. Research is ongoing on the matter. The maximum misjump reported is 36 parsecs. The average misjump is aproximately 12.25 parsecs, deduced from the study of statistical records.

Most civil starships have a jump rating of 1 or 2, with rare vessels equipped for express work carrying systems capable of 3 or 4; such ships operate for premium fees on long routes where speed is of the essense. Long routes tolerating longer delivery times use the usual jump1, but additional tankage to permit crossing voids to other lucrative destinations. It is so uncommon for a civiilian ship to mount J5 or J6 that it draws the attention of Imperial authority as a quriousity worthy of viewing.

Starships must generate immense amounts of power to jump, and therefore additional fuel must be allocated for employment of the jump drive at the rate of 10% of the ship's tonnage per parsec to travel via jump.

Jump distances are calculated in parsecs (3.27 light-years), which therefore is the scale of a subsector mapping grid. Jump-1, for example, indicates the ability to jump one parsec, or one mapping hex. Astrogation maps are baised on this fact and are not accurate maps for astronomical purposes.

Although jumps are usually entered at low velocities, the speed and direction which a ship held prior to jump is retained when it returns to normal space. This fact is often employed for tactical purposes. It is not a safe practice, as the emergence point tends to have other ships approaching it for intended use; therefore emergence at speed is known to have resulted in fatal mishaps, and is therefore a serious violation of civil navigation codes with stiff penalties. These do not apply to the navy of course... who tend to place obstacles around posessed jump points with exactly this sort of thing in mind.

See also Jump Drive History

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.

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The Jump Drive is the device that allows faster-than-light travel for starships in the Traveller universe.

Lanthanum is not very uncommon, priced at around $360/Kg.