Deep Space Maneuver System

The Deep Space Maneuver System is a modification of the standard gravity-based M-Drive technology that allows vessels to maneuver in the extreme microgravity gradients of unstressed interstellar space at meaningful accelerations.

• T_N-Drive (Reactionless Field Thruster)
• Advanced Gravito-Nuclear Thruster Plate - ("Reactionless")

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Description

For vessels equipped with propellantless field Impulse Maneuvering Drives such as the standard M-Drive, attempting to maneuver in deep space away from a significant gravitational gradient poses significant challenges. The standard Field Impulse Maneuvering Drives (G-Drive, M-Drive, and N-Drive) require a gravity gradient to work against and fall off to less than 1% efficiency when the gradient drops to a small enough arbitrary value due to quantum mechanical considerations, even with the tight focusing found in the [[N-Drive]. Within a star system gravity well this is not much of a problem, as the local gradient is generally sufficient to run conventional gravity-based field-impulse maneuver drives. But in the interstellar void of Deep Space this gradient drops to almost nil, causing significant problems. A vessel may find itself in interstellar space relatively close to its desired destination, but unable to reach it before its onboard fuel and supplies are depleted due to insufficient micro-acceleration and relative velocity. The Deep Space Maneuvering System is a modification of the standard gravity-based M-Drive technology employing elements of the Consolidated Hypergravity Unified Field Theory as applied to the unified Gravito-Nuclear Fields to allow it to operate in free, unstressed space. Efficiency is still greatly reduced as compared to N-Drives and M-Drives, but vessels so equipped can produce accelerations in excess of 0.1g and even reach accelerations as high as 2.0-3.0g in some cases, depending on the output of the particular drive compared to the tonnage of the vessel. Once close to a mass with displacement, the conventional drives will respond to the gravitational gradient of the body to allow standard maneuvering.

STL Drive Specifications

STL Drive Specifications (Starship Propulsion)

Category	Specifications	Remarks
Name		TBD
TL		TBD
Drive Type		TBD
Velocity	TBD	TBD
Duration	TBD	TBD
Hazards	TBD	TBD
Physical Constraints	TBD	TBD
Geometry	TBD	TBD
Levels	TBD	TBD
Entry	TBD	TBD
Exit	TBD	TBD
Fuel		TBD
Resource Requirements	TBD	TBD
Inventor	TBD	TBD
Characteristics	TBD	TBD

History & Background

G-Drive & M-Drive

Eventually, most races begin using gravitic propulsion for thrust within a star's gravity well. Beyond the strong pull of gravity, however, drives of this type rapidly drop off in efficiency, limiting their ability to propel a ship in the outer reaches of the local star system. Upon reaching tech level 11, breakthroughs in quantum physics lead to reactionless thruster plates. Faster and more efficient than gravitic propulsion systems, thruster plates represent the most modern form of slower-than-light transportation available to any known race.

M-Drive & T_N-Drive: Theory

The gravitic drive relies on interaction with the graviton. The graviton, a massless sub-atomic particle, is the carrier of gravitational force. The gravitic drive produces a field which, in effect, alters the way incoming gravitons react with the ship. In so doing, the grav-propelled craft is able to use normally attractive gravitons for thrust in any direction. It is worth noting that this basic ability to affect the way in which gravitons interact is fundamental to many other fields of modern physics and engineering. Thrusters are somewhat more advanced than gravitic propulsion units, but operate in a similar manner. Their development is an outgrowth of the combined effects of both gravitic technologies (as defined above) and nuclear damper technologies (as defined elsewhere in this text). By reacting with both the strong and weak nuclear force, thrusters are able to produce a reactionless thrust which allows a spaceship to move at high speed even beyond the limns of a strong gravitational field. Aspects of thruster technology which involve the strong nuclear force deal with the behavior of the gluon (a particle which binds quarks together at the sub-atomic level), and were directly responsible for the evolution of meson technology (which itself is based on quarks).

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)
• P_H-Drive (HEPlaR Drive)

• Impulse Drives:

(Field Propulsion Drives / Propellantless Drives)

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

• Reactionless Drives:

• T-Drive (Reactionless Motion Thruster):

• Gyroscopic Inertial Thruster (GIT)
• Dean Space-Thruster Drive

• T_N-Drive (Reactionless Field Thruster: Advanced Gravito-Nuclear Impulse Thruster)

• Deep Space Maneuver System - ("Reactionless")

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Interstellar-Drives

• Starship Drives (Interstellar Drives)
  • N-Drive (NAFAL Drive / < ¹/₈ ly)
  • J-Drive (Jump Drive / > 100 D)
  • Alternative FTL Drives

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References

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. Referee's Manual (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), .
• Rob Caswell, William W. Connors, Joe Fugate, Gary L. Thomas. Starship Operator's Manual (Digest Group Publications, 1988), 2-4.
• Martin Dougherty. Referee's Handbook (Mongoose Publishing, 2021), 65-66.