An ancient form of propulsion kept modern to the best of Ryu Heavy Industries' ability, the M Type Fusion Drive are the current generation of RHI Fusion rockets as of YE 46.

M Type Fusion Drive
1)
Year of Creation	Before YE 01
Designer	Ryu Heavy Industries
Nomenclature	See: Nomenclature Catalog
Manufacturer	Ryu Heavy Industries
Fielded by	Ryu Heavy Industries
Availability	Mass Production
Price	500*Tier (squared) KS per drive

Created long before the advent of zero-point energy technologies such as Aether, the Ryu-Mizumitsu Clan felt that it was important to keep the technology going. Not every world had the economy or the technical know-how on how to harness and maintain zero-point technology. But fusion power was an easy enough technology that could be taught to all but the most primitive people.

To keep up with technologies such as Hoshi III Series Multi-stage Turbo Plasma Drives, the M Type Fusion Drive was introduced with a number of improvement to the drive's thruster assemblies.

At the core of Ryu Heavy Industries' Fusion Drive is a Helium cooled High Efficiency Fusion Reactor (or a Compression Fusion Reactor). How many reactors that are attached to the fusion drive depends on the size of the craft. Most small craft and starships less than 200m in length typically only make use of one integrated fusion reactor. For ships larger than 200 meters, two and even three reactors are common.

The main function of the fusion reactors are to supply the plasma needed for the fusion drive to operate (as well as generate power for the host craft). Once generated, the plasma is channeled into an exhaust manifold before being pushed into the thruster assembly. Making use of gravity and magnetic fields to increase the density of the plasma, the final propulsion plasma is shoved out of exhaust vanes. Manifolds and containment fields are used to prevent plasma from washing back into the feed reactor(s).

Magnetic fields are used to direct the direction of the plasma, creating thrust-vectoring. Additional plasma from secondary fusion reactors can also be added in cases where greater thrust (but not necessarily speed) is required or just directly inject hydrogen or more helium into the mix.

If an intake manifold is available, local atmosphere can be compressed (via gravity or high speed), heated, and then fed into the same systems as reactor made plasma. Forcefields are used to control the flow of air into the assembly (resembling a ramscoop at high speeds and drawing in air in low speeds).

An older technology trying to compete with modern zero-point energy, the M Type Fusion Drive is only capable of an acceleration at .3c max on light craft. It gets progressively slower the heavier the craft becomes, even with the addition of more engines. Additional technologies to make the plasma hotter (and more compressed) could possibly add additional acceleration.

For fighters, small craft, and small starships with intake manifolds; a fusion drive is capable of operating as a jet engine. In such mode, most craft can achieve an atmospheric speed of 6,174 kilometers per hour (3836 mph/Mach 5). Though craft without the proper shielding are strongly advised to not to approach the maximum speed where atmospheric pressure exceeds 0.04 atm or risk destruction.

• Up to Tier 8: 0.3c
• Tier 9 - 10: 0.275c
• Tier 11 - 12: 0.25c
• Tier 13 - 14: 0.2c
• Tier 15: 0.15c

The following are common components of the M Type Fusion Drive.

• Fusion Reactor
• Exhaust Manifold
• Thruster Assembly
• Exhaust Vane
• Coolant System
• Helium Tanks

For complete maintance, the fusion drive must be shutdown completely. The interior must then be flushed with helium gas and allowed to vent out to quickly cool. Once complete and numerous safety mechanisms are engaged (inside and outside of the Fusion Drive), repair and maintenance is possible.

Demibear created this article on 2022/11/25 23:26.

Approval Thread: https://stararmy.com/roleplay-forum/threads/crane-class-dropship.71856/