The Mindset
24-04-2004, 20:08
24 April 4121
Mindsettian Technological News Agency - Roumours have emerged that several members of the council has proposed plans to begin construction of a successor to the now ancient Jumpnode network, which is no longer widely used by the Mindsettian navy in favour of ground-based wormholes.
As most know, the Jumpnode network was operated by the now defunct JNN Regulators, who manipulated the massive gravity wells of stars to fold space into a space approximately three hundred times shorter. This allowed ships to travel at just over 1 lightyear per minute, or 567,631,703,000,000 km/h, about 525,949 times the speed of light. Naturally this was only an illusion, since just below lightspeed is still (theoretically) the maximum physical speed of an object with mass. Bending space simply meant that the ship covers more space in less time, and isn't actually travelling faster.
The jumpnode network proved to be highly successful, generating massive wealth for the empire as well as huge recognition for it's achievements in interstellar travel. It allowed almost instantaneous travel from one side of the galaxy to the other, and allowed empires with more than one system to effectively manage them in real time. The network itse;f has proved it be highly robust - lasting over 500 years since it was superceeded by modern jumphole technology. The jumpnode network allowed travel between stars ofany distance, provided there was enough mass to warp space. In other words, the range of a jumpnode was only limited by the mass of a star.
Now, rumours claim that The Empire may be secretly compiling plans to construct a modern space-based (rather than ground based) network of jumpholes. Jumpholes allow for instantaneous travel between two fixed points in space, though their range is limited to 25 lightyears for the moment. (This is dependant upon the level of power supplied to the jumphole generators.) This technology is not new - it is the reason the Mindsettian space navy was dismantled nearly 500 years ago. The only difference is that now The Empire seems to be considering placing networks in space, whereas before they were strictly limited to linking planets, and some asteroids. Theoretically, the jumpholes will allow literally instantaneous travel to anywhere within 25 lightyears, where entry into another wormhole could take place and a jump of 25 more lightyears taken. The only engineering problem with this method is that jumpholes which are under one lightyear apart from each other tend to collapse due to gravatic waves cancelling each other out. This means there will be short delays between jumps, unlike the jumpnode network. Despite this, experts believe if such a network grows large enough, it will be over 50,000 than older methods.
More technical specifications will come, if any, when the Government announces it's intentions at a press conference three weeks from now.
Mindsettian Technological News Agency - Roumours have emerged that several members of the council has proposed plans to begin construction of a successor to the now ancient Jumpnode network, which is no longer widely used by the Mindsettian navy in favour of ground-based wormholes.
As most know, the Jumpnode network was operated by the now defunct JNN Regulators, who manipulated the massive gravity wells of stars to fold space into a space approximately three hundred times shorter. This allowed ships to travel at just over 1 lightyear per minute, or 567,631,703,000,000 km/h, about 525,949 times the speed of light. Naturally this was only an illusion, since just below lightspeed is still (theoretically) the maximum physical speed of an object with mass. Bending space simply meant that the ship covers more space in less time, and isn't actually travelling faster.
The jumpnode network proved to be highly successful, generating massive wealth for the empire as well as huge recognition for it's achievements in interstellar travel. It allowed almost instantaneous travel from one side of the galaxy to the other, and allowed empires with more than one system to effectively manage them in real time. The network itse;f has proved it be highly robust - lasting over 500 years since it was superceeded by modern jumphole technology. The jumpnode network allowed travel between stars ofany distance, provided there was enough mass to warp space. In other words, the range of a jumpnode was only limited by the mass of a star.
Now, rumours claim that The Empire may be secretly compiling plans to construct a modern space-based (rather than ground based) network of jumpholes. Jumpholes allow for instantaneous travel between two fixed points in space, though their range is limited to 25 lightyears for the moment. (This is dependant upon the level of power supplied to the jumphole generators.) This technology is not new - it is the reason the Mindsettian space navy was dismantled nearly 500 years ago. The only difference is that now The Empire seems to be considering placing networks in space, whereas before they were strictly limited to linking planets, and some asteroids. Theoretically, the jumpholes will allow literally instantaneous travel to anywhere within 25 lightyears, where entry into another wormhole could take place and a jump of 25 more lightyears taken. The only engineering problem with this method is that jumpholes which are under one lightyear apart from each other tend to collapse due to gravatic waves cancelling each other out. This means there will be short delays between jumps, unlike the jumpnode network. Despite this, experts believe if such a network grows large enough, it will be over 50,000 than older methods.
More technical specifications will come, if any, when the Government announces it's intentions at a press conference three weeks from now.