Alcubierre-Reynard Drive
Alcubierre-Reynard Drive, known also as the Reynard Warp Drive or AR Drive, is the technology used by human starships to travel faster than light.
Workings
The drive works by warping spacetime around a vessel which allows it to move faster than light. The operation's energy requirement is massive, so all starships are powered by two reactors. The first one is a fusion reactor which powers all the ship's systems and the second one is a Zero-point reactor which powers the FTL drive.
History
Discovery
The concept of the drive was proposed by Miguel Alcubierre at the end of the 20th century, but for a long time it was impossible to build it because of the energy requirement. Throughout the wars caused by the climate change, and after the London Summit research in new energy sources was booming, it resulted in expansion of fusion energy and in 2200 to the construction of a first zero-point reactor. A physicist Michael Reynard saw this as an opportunity to improve Alcubierre's idea and build the drive. This is how the Alcubierre-Reynard Drive was born.
Test Flights
Between 2235 and 2240 a series of test flights were performed. The prototype drive was installed aboard an old 20th-21st century space shuttle. The initial tests weren't very successful. The shuttle barely got to the moon. In 2238 came a breakthrough, when the drives power and power to other systems were separated into two reactors. This allowed the energy of the zero-point reactor to focus on the drive. That time the shuttle flew to Mars and back in about 2 hours. It proved that the engine worked and the government approved the construction of a bigger vessel.
Journey of ENS Explorer
In the end of 2255 ENS Explorer, the first human starship capable of FTL travel, left Earth for its maiden voyage. Just 10 days after leaving the solar system the ship encountered an Elam vessel and made first contact.
Michael Reynard
Michael Reynard was from a mixed English-French family. No matter how wealthy his family was in the past, the wars and ecological disaster made them poor. Michael was the first generation of the family who managed to improve his standard of living. He was a professor of physics at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. He was fascinated by the new zero-point reactor and saw the endless possibilities for using that energy. Then he came across the work of Miguel Alcubierre from late 20th century describing a method of faster-than-light travel. Reynard was certain that with the zero-point reactor the energy requirement could be met.
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