[OOC: Samusverse Setting Notes; FTL Drives, part 1 of 4]
Commonly known as "Jump" drives, Hyperspace Transit Drives are a staple of private and commercial intergalactic travel. Jump drives allow ships to cross the distance between stars in a fraction of a second, bypassing the intervening space. Jumping is inhibited by the presence of a gravity well, which in fact is how the drive returns ships to normal space.
Although the distance between stars is crossed almost instantaneously, travel within the system, either to points of interest or an outgoing jump point, must be done at sub-light speeds. Jumping within a single system is not possible.
To safely use a Jump drive, a ship must be somewhat close to the imaginary line from the star it currently orbits and the destination star, known as the vector. The ship needs to generate sufficient thrust to escape the star's gravity well before entering hyperspace. Upon entering hyperspace, the ship needs a star or similar gravity well to pull it back into realspace, reemerging with the same orientation and momentum as it had upon departure.
Where a ship arrives in relation to its target star depends on its hyperspace momentum, which is increased by departure velocity and decreased by jumping from closer to the departure star. The greater a ship's hyperspace momentum, the closer to the star it will emerge. When a ship transitions to or from hyperspace, it emits a burst of light and high-band emissions proportional to the ship's mass.
It may be noted, the distance off-vector from which a jump may be safely performed expands or diminishes proportionally with the distance from the departure star; the stronger gravitational pull of a star in close proximity, when applied laterally, tends to pull a ship off-course, possibly enough to result in a "miss."
A "miss" is the great danger of Jump drive travel, and can happen in a number of ways. A ship that attempts to jump away from a star without reaching escape velocity will fall back toward the star in hyperspace, either emerging inside the star or overshooting in the opposite direction. A ship that has too much hyperspace momentum may exit hyperspace dangerously close to or inside its target star, or could overshoot and fail to reenter realspace completely. Finally, attempting to Jump along a vector that will skirt close to a third star's gravity well may be pulled off course by that star's gravitational influence, resulting in a miss that fails to arrive at either destination star.
In theory, a hyperspace miss is not instantly calamitous, as the ship could simply be pulled back into realspace by the next sufficiently massive object it encounters, and the galaxy is likely to have at least one more star on a ship's vector. In practice, ships that miss in hyperspace are generally never seen again.
A Jump drive's ideal maximum range is limited by the mass of the ship in which it is mounted, the energy it needs to maintain stability in hyperspace, and the sophistication of the computer calculating the jump coordinates. Basic Jump drives are limited to a maximum range of ten light-years, with better computers and larger powerplants expanding that range to as much as thirty. The optimum safe range tends to be roughly two thirds of a ship's maximum range. The drive's practical maximum range may be less, depending on stellar density--more stars mean it's more difficult to slip between closer ones to reach more distant targets in a single jump. In general, the shortest jumps are safest.
Although the distance between stars is crossed almost instantaneously, travel within the system, either to points of interest or an outgoing jump point, must be done at sub-light speeds. Jumping within a single system is not possible.
To safely use a Jump drive, a ship must be somewhat close to the imaginary line from the star it currently orbits and the destination star, known as the vector. The ship needs to generate sufficient thrust to escape the star's gravity well before entering hyperspace. Upon entering hyperspace, the ship needs a star or similar gravity well to pull it back into realspace, reemerging with the same orientation and momentum as it had upon departure.
Where a ship arrives in relation to its target star depends on its hyperspace momentum, which is increased by departure velocity and decreased by jumping from closer to the departure star. The greater a ship's hyperspace momentum, the closer to the star it will emerge. When a ship transitions to or from hyperspace, it emits a burst of light and high-band emissions proportional to the ship's mass.
It may be noted, the distance off-vector from which a jump may be safely performed expands or diminishes proportionally with the distance from the departure star; the stronger gravitational pull of a star in close proximity, when applied laterally, tends to pull a ship off-course, possibly enough to result in a "miss."
A "miss" is the great danger of Jump drive travel, and can happen in a number of ways. A ship that attempts to jump away from a star without reaching escape velocity will fall back toward the star in hyperspace, either emerging inside the star or overshooting in the opposite direction. A ship that has too much hyperspace momentum may exit hyperspace dangerously close to or inside its target star, or could overshoot and fail to reenter realspace completely. Finally, attempting to Jump along a vector that will skirt close to a third star's gravity well may be pulled off course by that star's gravitational influence, resulting in a miss that fails to arrive at either destination star.
In theory, a hyperspace miss is not instantly calamitous, as the ship could simply be pulled back into realspace by the next sufficiently massive object it encounters, and the galaxy is likely to have at least one more star on a ship's vector. In practice, ships that miss in hyperspace are generally never seen again.
A Jump drive's ideal maximum range is limited by the mass of the ship in which it is mounted, the energy it needs to maintain stability in hyperspace, and the sophistication of the computer calculating the jump coordinates. Basic Jump drives are limited to a maximum range of ten light-years, with better computers and larger powerplants expanding that range to as much as thirty. The optimum safe range tends to be roughly two thirds of a ship's maximum range. The drive's practical maximum range may be less, depending on stellar density--more stars mean it's more difficult to slip between closer ones to reach more distant targets in a single jump. In general, the shortest jumps are safest.