Archives
| Title | Posted |
|---|---|
| Effectiveness of cruisers-vs-battlecruisers | Feb 2003 |
| <em>Wayfarer </em>and camouflaging itself as a merchantman | Feb 2003 |
| "Buckshot" missile defenses | Jan 2003 |
| Why doesn't Elizabeth <em>pack</em> the Lords? | Dec 2002 |
| Administrative and tactical organization of the RMN | Dec 2002 |
| Fission/fusion power reactors | Dec 2002 |
| Counter-missile canisters | Dec 2002 |
| Counter-missile fire control issues and counter-missile pods | Dec 2002 |
| Does the Manticoran Peerage allow Proxy Voting | Dec 2002 |
| Manticoran Peerage seating | Nov 2002 |
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Pearls of Weber
A collection of posts by David Weber containing background information for his stories, collected and generously made available Joe Buckley.
Grav pulse comm and the detection of hyper footprints
- Series: Honorverse
- Date: November 01, 2002
The Manticoran FTL com and, for that matter, gravitic sensors in general, do not function solely in normal-space. Or, to put it more precisely, they do not detect solely n-space phenomena. The grav pulses of an FTL com, like an impeller wedge, distort local n-space. They also produce an echo in hyper-space--a sort of ripple or cascade effect--which is what the gravitics actually detect and measure. In theory, any gravity field--even that of an itty-bitty meteor--produces the same sort of ripple or cascade; in practice, only a very powerful gravity field produces on which present-generations gravitics can detect and/or measure. A hyper footprint, on the other hand, is detectable at far greater distances than any impeller wedge simply because the "ripple" a starship produces as it actually enters or leaves hyper is much more of a roaring cataract. The real trick for the FTL com was developing the ability to produce finely controlled pulses (ripples), and the RMN has been steadily improving that ability.
