Liquid Hydrogen Jump Bubble

[kilemall]

I have not read the Starship Operators Guide, and pretty much came up with the hydrogen bubble based solely on the casually thrown off reference in High Guard, all the jump fuel is used in the initial jump sequence (which as I recall was in direct connection with the disposable tanks).

So since there is NO jump-5 drive that is going to suck down 50% of the volume of a ship in fuel that makes sense to me (even if its got an artificial black hole somewhere in there) the ONLY thing I could figure was that there was what you guys are calling the jump bubble.

Several other clues- it is based on total ship volume times jump 'distance', dumped immediately, and there is also the matter of the jump capacitors, are those specifically to open the jump/wormhole/hyperspace-jumpspace entry and the power plant just maintains for the time of the jump.

Now I've gone and done something weird, for some emotional reason I cannot stand the conceit of the week long jump even though I perfectly well know its a game mechanic.

So IMTU the jump is instantaneous to 'realtime' (although not IN the ship).

So my image was that the ships vent the hydrogen for what you are calling the bubble (my turn of phrase was jump shield), use part of the fuel and capacitor power to open a sort of wormhole, and use the rest to supercharge the hydrogen cloud so it is 'harder' and protects the ship from both jumpspace and physical/energy objects on reentry at the end of the jump.

A sort of White Globe shield if you will.

The transit temporary wormhole thing also requires the ship to be pointed in line to 'where' the jump endpoint is, thus giving a clue to observing/pursuing ships as to intent and likely destination.

The bubble only has to last a few seconds, so I am sidestepping the whole week long issue. This also avoids the issue of 'why can't we have jump shields ALL the time' as it obviously requires a lot more power to maintain then is practically possible.

 

[aramis]

I have not read the Starship Operators Guide,

it isn't in the Starship Operator's Manual... SSOM is pure jump grid.

 

[whartung]

GT:ISW uses the jump bubble, so I assume that GT uses the jump bubble.

Their tenet is that the fuel is used throughout the course of the trip to maintain the jump bubble. That suggests that the fuel is not consumed at jump, but drained at a steady rate.

One can quibble that if the fuel is used for a jump bubble, then perhaps the configuration of the ship would affect the volume of the fuel used for the jump bubble (greater surface area translating to greater "bubble" size). But, that's a quibble.

The detail about when the jump fuel is used is directly related to the concept of drop tanks. Drop tank make no sense if the fuel is consumed through the trip, but if it is consumed all at once, with a window to detach the tanks, then the possibilities become much more interesting.

There was a long discussion about the concept of "tank less" merchant ships relying on fuel tenders to provide jump fuel.

Does T5 say anything about this? I was under the impression T5 was going to go in to "authoritative detail" on jump operation (including things like drop tanks), but I don't know if it did or not.

 

[WistfulD]

The detail about when the jump fuel is used is directly related to the concept of drop tanks. Drop tank make no sense if the fuel is consumed through the trip, but if it is consumed all at once, with a window to detach the tanks, then the possibilities become much more interesting.

Don't discount the possibility that it could be a mixed effect. 90% inflating the bubble (or whatever), 10% used during the trip. 80/20, 50/50.

 

[whartung]

Don't discount the possibility that it could be a mixed effect. 90% inflating the bubble (or whatever), 10% used during the trip. 80/20, 50/50.

Simply put, the more fuel that is consumed "before jump", the more viable the drop tank.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

T5 & Jump.

/snippers/

Does T5 say anything about this? I was under the impression T5 was going to go in to "authoritative detail" on jump operation (including things like drop tanks), but I don't know if it did or not.

Well, I just read the How Jump Works chapter and it says roughly that the Fuel is "used rapidly" to tear a hole in realspace and insert the Ship into jumpspace. So, to me that says it uses the Fuel in the Drop Tanks all at once.

Now as to the Bubble, well since T5 also treats Jump like a quantum wave form it is possible that the Bubble is created at the time of Jump and then slowly degrades as time in Jump progresses.

But I am Naval Architect, not an Engineer.

 

[rancke]

Don't discount the possibility that it could be a mixed effect. 90% inflating the bubble (or whatever), 10% used during the trip. 80/20, 50/50.

The fact that drop tanks are dropped prior to the initiation of the jump rules out any combination other than 100/0.


Hans

 

[WistfulD]

The fact that drop tanks are dropped prior to the initiation of the jump rules out any combination other than 100/0.


Hans

Not by definition, merely by current ship design. Drop Tanks can be used to hold any amount of fuel that has to be used before the jump starts. As Whartung states, the more of the fuel for a jump goes into the jump before it leaves it's point of origin, the more viable drop tanks become.