Kearny-Fuchida Drive

History

The driving force behind the initial colonization of the Inner Sphere, the Kearny-Fuchida Drive (also known as K-F Drive) was named after the two professors, Thomas Kearny and Takayoshi Fuchida who theorized of the ability to warp space to allow for quick travel over more than two dozen light years. Although the two scientists put forward their theories beginning in 2018, their theories were ridiculed for decades. It was only after their deaths that they were vindicated when the Deimos Project "jumped" the first JumpShip from Sol's zenith jump point to its nadir jump point in 2107. A year later, the TAS Pathfinder made the first manned, interstellar "jump" to Tau Ceti, where they confirmed the findings of the slower-than-light Magellan probes: Tau Ceti had a habitable planet, later named New Earth.

The creation of the Kearny-Fuchida Drive was the only reason that extensive colonization of the Inner Sphere took place.

Description

A K-F drive is comprised of a meters-thick core made of a titanium-germanium alloy (wrapped in a liquid helium jacket), controller, initiator, tankage and other associated equipment. The core acts as a capacitor to store the energy needed to burst through space.

Replacement cores cannot be transported as typical cargo transiting through hyperspace. There are two ways to deliver a core to a different star system. The first is the more common, when the appropriate transport assets are available: once constructed or removed from the previous hull, the core is attached to a complete drive and installed within a lightweight transport shell. Another JumpShip would then temporarily attach itself in order to provide the necessary charge and to program the jump through hyperspace. After the charging 'Ship has removed itself to a safe distance, the shell would jump to the target location. The second method would have the titanium-germanium core ground into gravel-sized particles and (usually) chemically treated to reduce the interference with a functional K-F drive. It would then be reprocessed in a zero-gravity facility and recast into a new core, a process requiring many months.

Models

The Kearny-Fuchida Drive is manufactured on the following planets:

Brand	Planet	Company	Used by	References
K-F Mark IIb	Schuyler Clipperton Alarion	Dharma HyperSpace Irian Technologies Ioto Galactic Enterprises	???
K-F Mark V	Capella Chatham Gibbs	Rashpur-Owens Incorporated Stellar Trek Ioto Galactic Enterprises	???
K-F Mark VIIa	Capella Chatham Delavan Tamarind Alarion	Rashpur-Owens Incorporated Stellar Trek Universal Air Technicron Manufacturing Ioto Galactic Enterprises	???
K-F Mark VIII a-1	Chatham Delavan Loyalty	Stellar Trek Universal Air SelaSys Incorporated	???
K-F Mark X	Capella Panpour Alarion	Rashpur-Owens Incorporated Challenge Systems Ioto Galactic Enterprises	???
Unknown	Altair	Kurita Combine Munitions Corporation	Chimeisho
Unknown	Terra	O'Niel Yards	Magellan
Unkown	Loyalty	SelaSys Incorporated	Tramp
KF King VI-a	New Earth	Daussault-Shimmon Enterprises	???

Bibliography

• The Star League