Dark Matter
Dark matter (called in scientific circles Tenebrium), is a gaseous generally elemental substance that had been speculated upon during the latter periods of ancient humanity, confirmed shortly before the age of unity and finally put to human use in the late 35th century. This use was as a replacement for refined liquid hydrogen, or metal hydrides as a fuel for fusion reactors, specifically for the purposes of facilitating the transition into Jumpspace. In order to use dark matter, ships must mount a dark matter collector which operates by scooping dark matter out of space while a spacecraft is in flight, generally taking a week of spaceflight to collect enough energy to form a jump bubble. Dark matter is generally utilized for space going craft that need to make large jumps without sacrificing most of their mass for fuel tanks, which makes it very popular with military and scientific vessels, and slower bulk freighters.
Properties
Physical & Chemical Properties
Dark matter is perhaps most famous for its extremely low boiling point, lower than even than the temperature of background radiation in deep space, at least outside the intense pressure of the abyssal depths of gas giants. This makes it relatively easy to collect, and relatively easy to store for high technology civilizations as it maintains a stable gaseous or plasmoid state. It is also famous for its lack of molecular bonding with no natural molecules formed of dark matter aside from Tn3 (tritenebrium), and only one manufactured material, the H3Tn (Trihydrogen Monotenebrium), utilized in the manufacture of collectors, known to exist. Dark matter is known to have an exceptionally long half life with all observed Tenebrium giving of low levels of gamma radiation, and is currently understood to have a half life of 1.6 billion Earth years.
History & Usage
Discovery
Tenebrium was initially theorized as early as the times of Ancient Earth. This was initially a theory developed to rationalize the discrepancy in calculation of the total mass of the universe and the the observed massive objects in the universe. The first observation of Dark Matter was recorded during Project Valeria, the first tested use of Jump Drive technology. Because of this many have theorized that Dark Matter originates from Jumpspace and is brought into the universe every time that Jump Drives are used. It is believed that Dark Matter is a contributing factor in the continued expansion of the universe.
Everyday use
Dark Matter is used primarily as fuel for Jump Drives, where it is an exceptionally space and mass efficient fuel source (almost negligable mass usage compared to metal hydrides or even liquid hydrogen. However, it is somewhat difficult to harness, requiring specialized Dark Matter collectors that tend to be available only from manufacturers with a relatively high level of technological development. These difficulties with manufacture largely limit Dark Matter's use to Corporate, Government, or Military vessels, but the ability to minimize ship space required for fuel is a huge asset to many kinds of long range vessels.
Refinement
Refining Tenebrium occurs for two reasons. The first process is relatively simple, a matter of passively collecting Dark Matter from higher concentrations, this will collect in bulk modest quantities of dark matter, and concentrate it into a form that is usable as fuel, or for industrial processes. The second more involved process, used in most collector manufacturing, is to subject to heats equivalent to stellar mantles and extraordinarily high pressure, after reaching this state, the Dark Matter will enter a plasmoid state that is more susceptible to smelting, and is introduced to Hydrogen, which acts as a stabilizing and solidifying agent.
215Tn
217.15
Type
Elemental / Molecular
Value
GCr100 per shipping ton
Rarity
cxtremely common
Color
Colorless
Boiling / Condensation Point
2.5°K
Melting / Freezing Point
1°K
Common State
gas or plasma
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