The purpose of this note is to provide information about speeds and distances to aid in story development, maintain consistency and provide a measure for figuring out such things as how long it should take any given ship in the story to travel specified distances.
Reference: http://www.onlineconversion.com
Speed Definitions
| SLS | Sub-light Speed | FTL | Faster-than-Light Speed | |
| SU | Solar Unit | JF | Jump Factor | |
| FPS | Feet per Second | C | Speed of Light | |
| MPS | Miles per Second | LS | Light Second | |
| KPS | Kilometers per Second | LM | Light Minute | |
| LD | Light Day | |||
| AU | Astronomical Unit | LY | Light Year | |
| AU/S | AU per Second | LY/S | LYs per Second | |
| AU/H | AU per Hour | LY/D | LYs per Day |
Speed Standards
| Speed of Light (C) | = 186,282.3971 MPS = 983,571.9255 FPS | = 299,792.458 KPS | = 0.002 AU/S |
| SLS | = 1 SU = 0.0848 C | = 0.1 AU/H = 15,802.4873 MPS | = 0.00017 AU/S = 25,431.6381 KPS |
| FTL | = JF 1 | = 1.125 LY/H = 27 LY/D | = AU/H = AU/D |
Distance Standards
| 1 AU | = 92,955,807.4087 Miles | = 149,597,870.691 Kilometers | |
| 1 AU | = 0.1386 LH | = 8.3167 LM | = 499.0048 LS |
| 1 AU | = 0.0057 LD | ||
| 1 LY | = 31,577,600 LS | = 8,766 LH | = 63,241.0771 AU |
| 1 LY | = 529,960 LM | = 365.25 LD | |
| 1 LD | = 173.1446 AU | ||
| 1 LH | = 7.2143 AU | ||
| 1 LM | = 0.1202 AU | ||
| 1 LS | = 0.0020 AU |
SPEED RECORDS
SL = 7 SU
FTL = JF 6
Average distance between solar systems in the colony territory = 4 AU
Propulsion System Notes
In most cases, propulsion is completely separate from power generation and most ships include three propulsion systems in addition to their power generation system. The reaction control system is the weakest of the propulsion systems installed on a ship and provides attitude and positional control for the ship. The sublight propulsion system acts as the primary means of propelling the ship at speeds below the speed of light. The JumpDrive system transitions the ship into an extra-dimensional space referred to as hyperspace and allows the ship to cover great distances in a short amount of time, effectively exceeding the speed of light.
Two new speed scales were created to easy helm control of spacecraft. The Sublight Unit (SU) scale covering speeds below the speed of light and the Jump Factor(JF) scale covering effective speeds above the speed of light.
Most vessels, including the ERS Cassiopeia, utilize Fusion Reactors as their power generation system. Plasma transfer conduits are used to transfer charged plasma from the fusion reactors to the propulsion system. The JumpDrive is typically located near the main fusion reactor or reactors in order to minimize the length of the plasma transfer conduit between the reactor and the drive.