Space Travel

Eli Black

Article info & outline

Overview

Space travel technology is arguably humanity's greatest technological achievement, enabling the species to survive Earth's downfall and spread across two dozen star systems. While Tenebrium and Altspace loops realized the impossible dream of interstellar journeys in human lifetimes, conquering the difficulties of conventional space travel within star systems remains the foundation of human civilization. The technologies that allow ships to navigate between planets, sustain their crews for months or years, and overcome the perilous realities of space have evolved dramatically since humanity's first tentative steps beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Propulsion Systems

Magnetic Coil Fusion Drives

The dominant method of conventional space propulsion, Magnetic Coil Fusion Drives (MCFDs) utilize controlled fusion reactions to generate thrust. By magnetically containing and directing plasma, these drives provide the sustained acceleration necessary for interplanetary travel.

Standard MCFDs: These workhorses of interplanetary travel can achieve velocities up to 1m km/h with sustained burn, allowing transit between inner planets in days or weeks rather than months or years.
Tenebrium-Augmented MCFDs: The integration of Tenebrium into fusion drive designs revolutionized conventional space travel. These "Tamcaf" drives achieve velocities up to 2m km/h by leveraging Tenebrium's unique properties to enhance plasma containment and propulsion efficiency. However, most operational ships use older generation drives with average speeds between 1m and 1.3m km/h due to the expense and complexity of newer drives.

The power requirements for sustained MCFD operation are substantial and military vessels typically feature higher thrust-to-mass ratios and performance characteristics than civilian craft, allowing for more aggressive manoeuvring and shorter transit times.

Reaction Control Systems

While main drives provide primary thrust, fine manoeuvring in space requires specialized systems:

Plasma Thrusters: Arrays of small, precisely controlled plasma jets allow for rotational adjustments and minor course corrections without activating main engines.
Vectored Thrust Systems: Mechanically redirected exhaust from either main or secondary engines provides enhanced manoeuvrability, particularly valuable in combat or emergency scenarios.
Cold Gas Thrusters: Simple but reliable systems using compressed gas for situations requiring minimal electromagnetic signatures or operations near sensitive equipment.

Astrogation

Space navigation combines precise astronomical observation with complex orbital mechanics calculations to plot efficient courses between celestial bodies.

Stellar Cartography Systems: Every vessel carries some form of SCS, though capabilities vary dramatically by ship class and purpose. Commercial vessels in settled systems primarily rely on data feeds from System Beacons, supplemented by modest onboard arrays. Military and exploration craft deploy more sophisticated independent systems with multiple redundancies. Pathfinder vessels represent the pinnacle of cartographic technology, featuring cutting-edge multi-spectral sensor arrays capable of mapping uncharted regions with extraordinary precision. These systems feed into AI modelling engines that construct and maintain real-time navigational maps integrating data from all available sources.
Gravitational Topology Mapping: Critical for both conventional and Altspace navigation, these specialized systems detect and visualize the complex gravitational landscapes created by celestial bodies. For conventional travel, they identify opportunities for fuel-efficient slingshot maneuvers and highlight hazardous regions of space. For Altspace navigation, they locate the minimal-interference zones necessary for safe transit between dimensions. Advanced systems can detect subtle gravitational anomalies that might indicate uncharted masses or unusual stellar phenomena.
Orbital Prediction Engines: Sophisticated AI systems used to process astronomical data and calculate the trajectories of everything from planets to micrometeoroid clouds. In settled systems, they interface with planetary defense networks and traffic control systems to create comprehensive collision avoidance models. Frontier vessels rely on more autonomous versions that must make predictions with limited external data, factoring in uncertainties with probability modelling. Military vessels employ specialized 'Threat Prediction Engine' variants that are also used to predict optimal intercept trajectories or evasive maneuvers during combat scenarios and are paired with point defense systems to intercept incoming attacks.

Various artificial aids assist in safe navigation through settled systems:

System Beacons: Placed at strategic points throughout inhabited systems, these automated stations broadcast standardized navigation data including local conditions, hazards, traffic information, and planetary approach corridors. System Beacons are usually tightly networked with other infrastructure like terrestrial and space-based telescopic arrays, space station sensors, and publicly shared navigation data. Beacons are manufactured, owned, and operated by major factions but most now follow common design standards and protocols and interfering with or destroying one is considered a crime by every major faction.
Planetary Approach Corridors: Designated pathways for approaching inhabited worlds, monitored by local authorities to prevent unauthorized landings or orbital incursions. In most regions any ships not approaching via an established corridor are considered a threat and may be targeted by defensive platforms as a result. This is because ships moving at millions of km/h aren't meaningfully distinct from missiles or asteroids doing so. In the core systems any crew caught intentionally avoiding approved approach corridors is considered likely to face severe punishments, up to and including confiscation of cargo, ship, and imprisonment of the crew. Frontier systems are often less capable of enforcing approach policy but more apt to set their defense platforms to high alert, encouraging travellers to follow previously established lanes.

Life Support Systems

Thrust Gravity

Ships rely on constant acceleration to simulate gravitational effects for crew comfort and functionality:

Ship Architecture: Vessels are designed with "vertical" layouts, where decks are stacked perpendicular to the main thrust vector. This orientation allows the force generated by engines during acceleration to create a consistent "down" direction that mimics natural gravity.
Standard Operations: Most ships maintain approximately 1g of thrust-generated gravity during normal transit, closely simulating Earth conditions for optimal crew health and function. This thrust level can be adjusted based on mission parameters, crew composition, or power conservation needs. To maintain these gravity conditions the ship must continuously accelerate for the first half of the journey, then "flip" at the midpoint to begin deceleration toward their destination. This manoeuvre maintains the gravitational orientation inside the vessel while changing the direction of travel—a fundamental skill taught to all pilots.
Non-Acceleration Periods: Ships often enter zero-gravity conditions during docking, orbital insertion, or to conserve power. To accommodate this vessels incorporate features like handrails, magnetic footwear attachment points, and specialized furnishings that function in both gravitational modes.
High-G Operations: While commercial vessels typically operate at 1g, most ships can generate significantly higher acceleration—sometimes reaching levels immediately lethal to unprotected organic crew. Extended operation above 3g is designated as "Burning Hard" and can cause permanent physiological damage without protective measures. Commercial vessels incorporate multiple failsafe systems to prevent accidental high-g manoeuvres, though these can be overridden by any skilled tech in an emergency.
Protective Systems: Various technologies have been created to mitigate the dangers of high-g operations:
- Jumpsuits: Military-grade garments that provide compression and circulatory support during high-g maneuvers, helping to prevent blackouts and internal injuries.
- Crash-Seats: Articulated seating systems with body-contouring padding, restraints, and integrated life support that distribute g-forces across the body while monitoring vital signs.
- Immersion Capsules: Advanced systems that submerge crew in reactive gel-like substances that actively respond to changing forces, providing omnidirectional support during extreme maneuvers.
- Hibernation Integration: Modern hibernation pods incorporate protective technologies as standard features, while older models rely on more primitive bladder-style cushioning systems.

Hibernation Systems

Long-duration spaceflight, particularly during Altspace transit, typically involves crew hibernation, also known as deep sleep, stasis, or cryosleep. Hibernation serves multiple purposes beyond resource conservation during long voyages, including: Protecting crew from the psychological effects of Altspace exposure; Reducing consumption of limited resources like food, water, and oxygen; Minimizing interpersonal conflicts during extended missions; Reducing the physiological impact of long-term exposure to space conditions.

Standard Hibernation Pods: Commercial systems induce a hypometabolic state akin to deep sleep rather than full biological suspension. Entry and exit from this state typically requires several hours of carefully managed transition procedures.
Military Hibernation Systems: More advanced systems used by military vessels reduce transition periods using both structured sensory input (audio and visual cues fed into the pod) and cocktails of stimulants. This allows for faster deployment and response times in tactical situations but also often has long term consequences on the health of sleepers.
Long-Duration Stasis: True vitrification (biological suspension) systems exist for specialized applications such as pathfinder operations and certain military programs, though the expense and complexity of these systems limits their widespread adoption.
Settler Stasis: it is always more practical to use hibernation when moving large numbers of people through space. Frontier colonists often start their new lives in hibernation, only awakened once their expertise is needed or their colony is stable enough to support them.
Deep Sleep Dragoons: Military vessels on extended patrol routes and Pathfinder vessels both frequently staff soldiers or security personnel kept in hibernation for extended periods, only waking them when security operations are needed. This has given rise to a subset of military and security personnel who take on contracts to spend years in hibernation between being awakened. While these contracts often pay very well (particularly if they involve a long-term managed investment clause) they also require psychological and background screening and augmentation as the physical, mental, social effects can be severe.
Hibernation Sickness: Individuals who have spent multiple extended periods of time in regular hibernation can develop Hibernation Sickness, a cluster of ailments that make each subsequent act of hibernation more unpleasant and risky. Symptoms range from respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous system issues to psychological conditions of varying severity. The subject is still being studied and but many believe it is caused by accumulation of hibernation meds in vital tissues, though there is limited evidence for this.

Environmental Control

The maintenance of habitable conditions aboard spacecraft represents a complex engineering challenge:

Atmospheric Processing: Integrated systems for regulating oxygen levels, removing carbon dioxide, and filtering airborne contaminants maintain breathable air throughout extended missions.
Water Reclamation: While many commercial ships get by with standard water storage and reclamation systems, closed-loop systems that purify and recycle water with extremely high efficiency are essential for long-duration spaceflight where resupply is impossible.
Ice-Water Purification: Larger ships operating in more remote regions frequently carry complex water processing and purification systems to enable processing of stellar ice.
Waste Management: Every ship has some form of waste management, usually leveraging well understood biochemical processes to break down waste materials for recycling and safe storage, but recent advances have seen the roll-out of advanced "biot tanks". These next-gen systems are capable of not just processing waste to make it safe but converting it into useful resources with extremely high efficiency. Paired with advanced printer tech this innovation has further increased reclamation efficiency and reduced the need for ship rations. Public perception of the tech remains mixed but long-distance travellers who have used these systems have described them as revolutionary... once you get past the initial squick.
Radiation Shielding: The ever-present threat of radiation has been mostly mitigated through new materials technology such Attalus alloys, foamantite, and hydroshield polymers. Ship and station design combines these materials into multiple layers of protection against cosmic radiation, solar flares, and other space-borne hazards.
Heat Management: Managing heat in space can be challenging. There is no atmosphere in space to help dissipate heat, which means that heat cannot be carried away from a spacecraft or space station by convection or conduction. This means that any heat generated by the spacecraft or its systems must be actively managed and dissipated using other means and because the vacuum of space is a poor conductor of heat, it is difficult to transfer heat from one object to another in space. Compounded with the fact that there are extreme temperature fluctuations in space, with temperatures ranging from near absolute zero in the shade to hundreds of degrees in the sun, it can be difficult to maintain a consistent and stable temperature inside a spacecraft or space station. Attalus alloys have helped mitigate this to some extent, as have Nagai-Okawara Condensate (NOC) cooling systems that efficiently transfer waste heat away from critical components and into cooling arrays located on or extending from the ships hull.

Ship Operations

Automated Systems

Most modern spacecraft rely heavily on artificial intelligence for routine operations:

Bosun AI: The generic term for a ship's artificial intelligence that manages systems and supports the crew. Bosun responsibilities can range from basic monitoring to near-complete automation depending on the vessel and commanding officer's preferences. High-automation versions of the technology are widely used in the CDU and LSC where ships are known to often have specific "personalities" but Bosun's are viewed with suspicion by SR officers who prefer their ships to be more mechanical and prefer to trust in organic crew for key duties instead.
Maintenance Drones: Robotic systems designed to conduct repairs and routine maintenance, particularly in areas hazardous or inaccessible to human crew. Drone designs and integration is highly variable, ranging from articulated arms operating on rail systems integrated into the ship to fully autonomous robotic bodies designed to replicate human or animal forms.
Flight Automation: Advanced systems capable of handling complex manoeuvres and navigation tasks, though most critical operations still involve human oversight, particularly in military vessels. A key responsibility of any ships crew is not just to manage ship operations in real time but also to create automation patterns and procedures for ship systems to follow in given scenarios when the crew may not be able to respond. Some crews are content to rely on standard automation packages but many know that the key to surviving a disaster is to know that each ship is different and automation with the wrong context is sometimes worse than no automation at all. The best example of Flight Automation are MARGS, maneuver and response graphs produced by pilots to guide ship manoeuvres during high intensity scenarios.

Communication Systems

Maintaining contact between vessels and installations is vital for coordination and safety:

Laser Communication: High-bandwidth, directional systems are used for secure communications over moderate distances within a star system. Communications lasers must be extremely powerful to operate at any extended distance and several types of L-Com are also designated as weapons.
Radio Systems: Traditional electromagnetic communications is still used for broad-spectrum broadcasting and emergency signals.
Beacons and StellarNet Nodes: Any ship can connect to the StellarNet via the nearest Beacon or StellarNet node (using laser or radio). Once connected the ship itself becomes a node in the network and a portion of its transmission capacity is requisitioned by network protocols to relay data to other vessels, stations, and colonies in its range. StellarNet comms systems are designed to either operate openly or not at all; a ship can choose to connect to the network but doing so means they become a visible node and relay in the network. Any attempt to block data or tamper with StellarNet systems causes the ship to disconnect and repeated attempts can cause a ship to become locked out of the network entirely.
Transponder: All ships are equipped with a transponder that can transmit on both radio and laser systems and responds to vessels, stations, and colonies in range. Transponders are used to transmit vector, velocity, and vessel identity. While a very skilled tech can modify them, ship transponders are extensively hardened to prevent tampering and doing so is a crime in most jurisdictions. In most regions a ships operating without a transponder is generally assumed to be hostile or derelict and there are legal protections for vessels who respond accordingly.

Space Hazards and Countermeasures

Space is filled with hazards and humanity has developed a variety of systems to manage the risk inherent in hurling oneself into the void:

Debris Management: The accumulated wreckage of centuries of space activity around the core planets presents a constant threat to vessels. Active Detection Systems such as radar and lidar arrays are used to scan for upcoming debris and calculate collision risks and this data is fed to automated systems capable of implementing evasive actions when debris threatens a vessel. If a collision is unavoidable most ships also equip Point Defense systems, laser or impact systems designed to fragment or deflect debris too large to avoid but too small to cause catastrophic damage if broken into smaller pieces.
Radiation Protection: The harsh radiation environment of space requires multiple layers of defense. Physical barriers are incorporated into ship design, often using layers of specialized materials (Attalus alloys, foamantite, and hydroshield polymers) to absorb or deflect radiation. Additionally, magnetic deflection systems are used to redirect charged particles away from sensitive areas of the vessel.
Micrometeroid Defense: Multiple mitigations have been developed to deal with the tiny particles moving at tremendous velocities that pose a disproportionate threat to spacecraft. Whipple shields are used to create spaced protective layers and dissipate the energy of impacts into self-healing composite materials that automatically seal small punctures before catastrophic decompression can occur. Additionally most ships are built with hardened critical system design patterns, where vital components are housed in reinforced compartments with redundant connections to ensure function even after partial system damage.