Gravitational Matrix
Gravitational Matrix is a network of small emitters that can create artificial gravity over a limited surface.
History
First concepted by DARPA in late 1970:s, early prototypes of the Gravitational Matrix were classified and shelved until its resurface in 2065 AD.
The first commercial version of Gravitational Matrix was called GravCell and was released by GravTech Inc. in collaboration with Rostec and MIT. Surprisingly, GravCell did not find enough of practical applications, and soon the technology behind artificial gravity became shelved once again. The reason for this unfortunate development was the sheer amount of energy that GravCells required to function. No spaceship or space station had an energy storage big enough to allow effective use of GravCells.
Everything changed in year 2097 AD when LLCC InfinityGate have aquired GravTech Inc. and all its patents. By that time the InfinityGate were constructing the prototype of the Subspace Engine, and had to build multiple self-sufficient testing facilities far away from Earth. Use of GravCells was crucial to make these deep space facilities habitable for the long term shift workers.
The energy deficiency problem was also solved through use of InfinityGate’s own invention – the Inverse Currency Deuon Generator. This power source was originally designed to feed the company’s power hungry Subspace Engines and became the missing piece required got GravCells to be viable for effective use. Furthermore, the Silver Cloud, research AI that was used by InfinityGate, was able to modify the core design of GravCells to become significantly more power efficient.
A promotional image for the GravCell technology. The woman in Green is walking in 1G, meanwhile the woman in Red is floating next to her in ZERO-G because GravCells on her side of the room are turned off.
As history knows, the Subspace Engine has failed on its promise, because of Voyager-M12 incident that took place 2122 AD. The GravCell technology though have finally found its wide commercial use as a vital component on every Deuon-Powered spaceship, or space station.
Technology
Gravitational Matrix is made out of hundreds if not thousands of individual hexagonally shaped emitters. The size and shape of these emitters are standardized and dictated by the technology behind the artificial gravity. Each emitter is made of similar parts, but their size can vary from 3 to 10 centimeters. When these different emitters are interconnected into a matrix, they are capable of providing comfortably consistent gravitation over a range of up to 5 meters above the emitter.
A closeup image of the Gravitational Matrix during the routine maintenance.
It is important to note that a single emitter can not create a consistent gravitational field over itself, so no experiment of using few large emitters instead of hundreds of small ones have succeeded. This fact leads to the first big shortcoming of the Gravitational Matrix – high cost of hundreds of emitters that are needed to build the matrix. This issue was later resolved through automation of mass production of the emitters.
Gravitational Matrix during the First Era
The technology behind Gravitational Matrix was re-discovered both in the Federal- and Imperial Space at almost the same time when the Subspace Engine was re-invented. It is pretty peculiar that even the earliest prototypes of Gravitational Matrix created by scientists of these interstellar nations seemed to be even more sophisticated then GravCells from the Pre-Exodus era.
Origins Remain Unknown
Despite its prominence in human-inhabited space, nobody was able to improve the technology behind the artificial gravity beyond its long standing form of a Gravitational Matrix. This begs a question – have any human ever understood the physical principals at play behind the artificial gravity, or is Gravitational Matrix based on a technology that originated far beyond the Earth and was not invented by humans in the first place? Too much time have passed to find definitive answers for these questions.
