Editing Ship Fuel

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[[Ship Fuel]] is an important commodity within [[Charted Space]] and is widely traded despite the fact that it can be gathered at almost any [[gas giant]] or large [[planet]]ary body of water. 
* It is considered to be [[Ship Equipment]].
* It typically comes in two grades: [[Unrefined Fuel]] and [[Refined Fuel]].
* The most common ship fuel in use within [[Charted Space]] is [[hydrogen]] or [[liquid hydrogen]], often abbreviated in technical documents as [[LHYD]].
 
== Description ([[Specifications]]) ==
[[Refined fuel]] is available at [[starport]]s at about [[Cr]]500 per ton; [[unrefined fuel]] is available at [[starport]]s for [[Cr]]100 per [[ton]], or can be skimmed from [[gas giant]]s for free. In addition, [[water]] can be taken from oceans or lakes (…if there are any on the [[world]]) and used as unrefined fuel. [[Military Ship|Military]] and [[Paramilitary Ship|quasi-military]] [[starship]]s often use unrefined fuel because it is more available, and because their [[maneuver drives]] are specially built to use it. [[Civilian Ship|Commercial ships]] sometimes use unrefined fuel because it is cheaper. {{Page cite|name= Starships |page=6 |version=Classic Traveller}}

=== Typical Fuel Costs ===
Fuel costs vary greatly across [[Charted Space]], but typical costs are often estimated at:
* [[Refined Fuel]] is available at [[starport]]s at about [[Cr]]500 per ton. {{Page cite|name= Starships|page=6|version=Classic Traveller}}
* [[Unrefined Fuel]] is available at [[starport]]s for [[Cr]]100 per ton, or can be skimmed from [[gas giant]]s for free. {{Page cite|name= Starships|page=6|version=Classic Traveller}}

Most [[starport]]s will carry fuel at or around these prices as long as proper refining, storage, and other [[facilities]] are available.

=== System Fuel Collection ===
Many [[World-State|planetary government]]s set up automated fuel collection services with refining facilities located on a [[Moon|gas giant moon]], and an intrasystem [[spacecraft]] transport service to a [[mainworld]] [[highport]].

In [[system]]s without a [[gas giant]], regular expeditions are often mounted to travel to the [[Oort Cloud]]s in the [[Far System|far]] or [[remote system]]s, often taking weeks or months of sublight travel. Many [[corporation]]s have arisen to provide remote fueling stations, often for [[Jump Bridge]]s, and [[Space Fueler]]s are almost as common as [[belter]]s. In fact, many argue that a ''space fueler'' is simply a different kind of [[belter]], one who specializes in providing fuels, rather than other [[resource]]s.

=== Drive Malfunction & Fuel Correlation ===
One of the two primary factors influencing starship malfunction are unrefined fuel and lack of maintenance.{{Page cite|name= Starships |page=6 |version=Classic Traveller}} [[Military Ship]]s tend to be built with more capable and tougher reactors capable of handling either unrefined or refined fuel. [[Civilian Ship]]s are more often built with cheaper reactors that handle refined fuel well, but have a relatively high failure rate when using unrefined fuel. The odds go up for a [[misjump]] when unrefined fuel is used within an economy civilian reactor. This forces most civilian ship captains to spend more time refining unrefined fuel supplies. [[On-ship fuel refining equipment]] can vary greatly in cost and capability.

=== Wilderness Refueling ===
''Fuel'' can quickly add up costwise and the cheaper fuel, [[Unrefined Fuel]], adds extra risk, danger of drive malfunction, and [[misjump]] to a voyage. For this reason, many ship captains prefer the more time-consuming, but less expensive option of ''Wilderness Refueling,'' which is to say the stopping to collect water off a [[planet]] or from icy asteroids (...which can be refined into hydrogen fuels), or the collection of raw fuel substances from a [[gas giant]]. Such ships employ [[Fuel Scoop]]s and a [[Fuel Treatment Plant]]. The ability to collect fuel on the fly is also of great value to [[Exploration Vessel]]s and [[Scout Vessel]]s. A military implication of this fact is that large areas without significant planets or fuel sources become strategic blocks to [[starship]] and [[warship]] movement. {{Unpublished cite|author= [[Maksim-Smelchak]] }}

== History & Background ([[Dossier]]) ==
The earliest fuels are simply flammables within most [[societies]]. As engines, furnaces, and more advanced energy-using [[device]]s are invented, the need for higher yield fuels grow. 

=== Common Fuel Types ===
'''Fuel Forms:'''
# [[Ship Fuel|Hybrid Fuel]]
# [[Ship Fuel|Hypergolic Fuel]]
# [[Inert Fluid]]
# [[Ship Fuel|Liquid Fuel]]
# [[Liquid Propellant]]
# [[Petrochemical]]
# [[Raw Mass]] or [[Reaction Mass]]
# [[Solid Fuel]]

'''Fuel Substances:'''
# [[Antimatter Pellet]]s
# Flammables
# [[Hydrocarbon]]s
# [[Hydrogen]]
# [[Ionizate]]s
# [[Oxidizer]]s
# [[Radioactive]]s or [[Fissionable]]s

=== Alternative Drives, Fuels & Power Plant Research ===
Occasionally, prototype [[Antimatter]] [[power plant]]s are used within [[Charted Space]], although the cost of producing antimatter is quite high, making such plants untenable for commercial use as of [[1105]] [[IC]]. The first commercial antimatter reactors are expected to come online by [[TL:16-18]], and be commonly and commercially available by [[TL:19-21]]. Some predict that such reactors will be available within a few decades, while others forecast that the problems of practical antimatter mastery may take several more centuries to crack. It is widely believed that the [[Ancients]] were masters of [[antimatter]] or [[contraterrene matter]] and widely used it and even more advanced [[technologies]]. 

[[Solar Sail]]s and other kinds of [[alternate drive]]s also exist, but the conventional [[Jump Drive]] outperforms them in most regards.

=== Technological Overview of Selected Fuels ===
* Flammables → [[Hydrocarbon]]s → [[Oxidizer]]s → [[Ionizate]]s → [[Radioactive]]s → [[Hydrogen]] → [[Antimatter Pellet]]s

=== Technological Stages of Fuel Development ===
''[[Tech Epoch|Epochal Technological Development]]:'' The first fuels were little more than flammables for simple combustion on most worlds, typically plantstuffs such as wood. By the end of [[TL:1-3]] [[tech epoch]], many [[sophont]] [[societies]] begin experimenting with [[steam engine]]s, [[internal combustion engine]]s, and other propulsion devices for self-propelled vehicles. These devices require increasingly higher power yields leading to more potent fuels.  

'''[[TL:4-6]]:''' <br>
Once a [[civilization]] discovers and perfects mechanization, typically within the [[TL:4-6]] industrial period, fuels become very important, with more advanced fuels being researched and developed on a regular basis. [[Societies]] seek to optimize beastpower (...known as horsepower on [[terra]]) in any way possible... more efficient engines, fuel additives, and a variety of other methods. A [[civilization]]al race is on to maximize power yields.   

'''[[TL:7-9]]:''' <br>
As fuel technology advances, fuels with higher energy potentials are used, typically petrochemicals, volatiles, gasoline, petrol, POL (Petroleum Oil Distillate), fossil fuels, hydrazine, or the variety of other names by which fuel are referred. These fuels are mostly generalized as [[Hydrocarbon]]s. Most such fuel commodities are scarce with limited supplies available. Many societies hit peak usage and are forced to seek out alternative fuel sources and propulsion methods. More [[Nonindustrial World|resource poor worlds]] may be forced to import fuel at cost, especially those [[system]]s without [[gas giant]]s. High fuel costs can significantly decrease profits for [[merchant ship]]s.

'''[[TL:10-12]]:''' <br>
By the [[TL:10-12]] [[technological epoch]], [[Fusion|Fusion power]] is typically mastered, which requires very little more than [[Hydrogen]] in quantity, one of the most common elements found within the [[Dakhaseri]] / [[Galaxy]]. This greatly simplifies fuel harvesting, reducing it to collection and refinement, both available at the cost of time and effort, rather than large currency outlays. Refined fuel is vastly superior, but unrefined fuel is still often used due to greater availability and less effort required to use it.

'''[[TL:13-15]]:''' <br>
By the [[TL:13-15]] [[technological epoch]], [[Fusion|Fusion power]] has been used for decades or centuries, possibly millennia, and the search for new power sources continues. [[Collector]]s begin to come into vogue as prototypes and [[antimatter]] is of great interest.

== References & Contributors ([[Sources]]) ==
{{Intermediate}}
{{Sources
|S1= {{Ludography cite|name= Starships |page=5 |version=Classic Traveller}}
|S2= Fuel Efficency in Traveller (Optional rules) [[Benjamin Pew]] January 2010 [[Signs & Portents 76]]
|S3= {{Ludography cite|name= T5 Core Rules |page=TBD}}
|S4= [[Traveller Wiki Editorial Team]]
|S5= Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology [[Maksim-Smelchak]] of the [[Ministry of Science]]
}}


[[Category: Ship Equipment]]
{{LE|Energy|Fuel}}