Wormhole Projector

A wormhole projector is a device for generating wormholes and launching them across space as the precursor to building new stargates. They play a critical role in the expansion of the starweb.
These machines usually consist of two systems. First is the hardware for generating a wormhole pair from the quantum vacuum, and the second is a projection system to launch one mouth across space while retaining the other in a contaiment chamber. This often uses a large megawatt- or gigawatt-class laser which shines through the mouth held in the projector. The second mouth, ejected into space, has the laser beam pass out of it to act as a photon rocket. With a starting mass of a gram or so, this mouth can attain velocities near lightspeed as it crosses interstellar space before being decelerated to rest at its destination. Because of relativistic time dilation, by looking through the mouth kept in the projector it will seemingly only take a few weeks or months for the far mouth to complete its journey even though it may cross dozens of lightyears.

The far mouth will then be steered towards a suitable mass concentration, like an asteroid, which it will "eat" so parts can be sent through to build a stargate.

Wormhole projectors are usually carried aboard specialized ships known as wormhole tenders, along with the components needed to built both ends of a stargate once the new wormhole mouths are in place.