Star Fighter Engines

[AdmiralTDM]

I was wondering if their are any speculations on how the X-wings engines work? Fusion powered? I know that TIE's are Ion engines and all. Any one have any links or would like to share their knowledge?

Thanks

[Ender]

All are ion engine designs. Though the geonosian Nantex fighter goes beyond ions ot subatomic particles for its ejecta.

[AdmiralTDM]

so what powers the engines? Are they self powered or are the engines powered by a seperate Fusion Gen. or somthing?

Was wondering cause if the exhaust is hot enough I was thinking you could dump low grade fusion fuel into it like an afterburner and it would give you massive accell from prehaps fusion itself but more like the F. Fuel having its ions stripped away from all the heat... Who knows I think that wont work since the engines expell ions for exhaust.

thanks Ender for the info

[Crazedwraith]

the x-wings use "fuzial thrust engines"" IIRC Whether this the brand-name or the type of system i don't know.

[Ender]

so what powers the engines? Are they self powered or are the engines powered by a seperate Fusion Gen. or somthing?

It appears that SW ships are powered by hypermatter, as fusion couldn't really explain the energy outputs we see given the ships observed mass (X-wings don't cause huge depressions in the ground when they land, so hundreds of tons compressed really dense doesnt' work). A miniturazed fusion reactor suppossedly contaisn the hypermatter in a field.

Was wondering cause if the exhaust is hot enough I was thinking you could dump low grade fusion fuel into it like an afterburner and it would give you massive accell from prehaps fusion itself but more like the F. Fuel having its ions stripped away from all the heat... Who knows I think that wont work since the engines expell ions for exhaust.

Well the stuff is already relativistic, and we're talking something like .99 C, so that really wouldn't do alot. Especially when you figure that the mass of carrying the extra fuel. It might even end up slowing it down there.

thanks Ender for the info

No prob.

[Ender]

the x-wings use "fuzial thrust engines"" IIRC Whether this the brand-name or the type of system i don't know.

Might be a brand. A-wings use Event horizon Engines, but they certainly aren't. then there is Solar Ionization brand hypermatter reactors.

[Chris OFarrell]

the x-wings use "fuzial thrust engines"" IIRC Whether this the brand-name or the type of system i don't know.

Might be a brand. A-wings use Event horizon Engines, but they certainly aren't. then there is Solar Ionization brand hypermatter reactors.

Horizen engines are def just a name brand. Not a type. Like 'Rolls Royce' or 'General Dynamics'.

Also I think it was mentioned in 'Rogue Squadron' that X-Wings use some kind of weird liquid fuel to the fussion engines. We also see in ANH the fueling hoses for filling up the fuel tanks.

[Ender]

the x-wings use "fuzial thrust engines"" IIRC Whether this the brand-name or the type of system i don't know.

Might be a brand. A-wings use Event horizon Engines, but they certainly aren't. then there is Solar Ionization brand hypermatter reactors.

Horizen engines are def just a name brand. Not a type. Like 'Rolls Royce' or 'General Dynamics'.

Also I think it was mentioned in 'Rogue Squadron' that X-Wings use some kind of weird liquid fuel to the fussion engines. We also see in ANH the fueling hoses for filling up the fuel tanks.

My interpratation of power and propulsion systems is this:

Hypermatter is created and contained in the reactor itself and is not onboard stored fuel (Kina like a Quantum Singularity reactor would be).

What is stored onboard is the fuel that serves as both a reactant and ejecta (explaining again why there is only one type of fuel tanks aboard). This fuel is pumped as a liquid, and onboard compressors crunch it down to the density needed to fit onboard and have enough to meet the requirements of power and thrust.

Capital ships use antimatter for thier reaction. The canon novel of ANH and AOTC ICS state that their hypermatter reactors are anhillation based and NEGC states that an Executor class went up when its onboard AM supplies were sent off (though it says this was the Pride of Yevetha, a ship known to be found abandoned and not destroyed in battle). But given that that much AM going off in an atmosphere should do alot more then we see when starfighters ae destroyed in the atmosphere and that there is no seperate tanks for the fusion reactors on starfighters, I suspect that they use hydrogen.


Incidently, one possibility is that starfighters use powercells or other forms of energy generation to provide for the containment of their hypermatter cores. This would explain the missing of fusion reactors in the ICs pics, be space conservative, and would partly explain the crossing of Solar collectors and heat dissapators on TIEs.

[Knife]

Hypermatter is created and contained in the reactor itself and is not onboard stored fuel (Kina like a Quantum Singularity reactor would be).

I would imagine that the hypermatter is the reactent in the hyperdrive motivator. The four (or two) engines on the fighters are fusion based for the ion drive and run off of liquid or solid reactant as seen being pumped into the X-wings durring ANH.

I would submit though, that the power for the Repulsar's and Acceleration Compensator's probably come from the hyper reactor. I don't see fusion engines generating enough power to run the repulser's nor some battery system when the fusion engines are shut down.

[Howedar]

Repulsors take so little energy that hovering speeders are just left to hover in the garage.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Hypermatter is created and contained in the reactor itself and is not onboard stored fuel (Kina like a Quantum Singularity reactor would be).

I believe it is contained in the hyperdrive due to the Acclamator-class section in the ICS2 and its role in hyperjumps..

Capital ships use antimatter for thier reaction. The canon novel of ANH and AOTC ICS state that their hypermatter reactors are anhillation based

Annhiliation could just mean "conversion to energy." The existance of "antihypermatter" for a hyper-analogue to M/AM annhiliation isn't necessary, esp. since hypermatter is a mathematical abstraction anyway, and conversion to energy according to mass (physics def. of annhiliation) doesn't make sense since hypermatter's rest mass is described by a complex number. How does one have a quantity of energy described by a complex number of joules? Its magic, so one shouldn't postulate a M/AM analogue with hypermatter annhiliation unless necessary.

and NEGC states that an Executor class went up when its onboard AM supplies were sent off (though it says this was the Pride of Yevetha, a ship known to be found abandoned and not destroyed in battle).

You're slightly confused. The Glory of Yevetha was the experimental weapons/engine testbed built onto a "Dreadnought" hull. Among the Imperials, it is known as the EX-F.

The Pride of Yevetha is the late-model Executor-class Commandship known to the Empire at the Intimidator. It was found abandoned, irreparable outside the galactic disk.

The EX-F (Glory of Yevetha) was involved in Ackbar's trick at the Battle of Gravlex Med. The Intimidator (Pride of Yevetha) was not.

The EX-F is described as having a unique, and experimental weapons and engine system. The presence of antimatter with it cannot be used to generalize anything about capital ships, esp. since the exclusive mention of antimatter with respect to EX-F suggests it is one the unique characteristics of the EX-F's experimental systems, which actually argues against antimatter in general use of starships.

But given that that much AM going off in an atmosphere should do alot more then we see when starfighters ae destroyed in the atmosphere and that there is no seperate tanks for the fusion reactors on starfighters, I suspect that they use hydrogen.

Gravlex Med wasn't in the atmosphere. ?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Repulsors take so little energy that hovering speeders are just left to hover in the garage.

IIRC, the AOTC ICS might state that repulsorlifts don't even require an energy supply to function...

[Sea Skimmer]

IIRC, the AOTC ICS might state that repulsorlifts don't even require an energy supply to function...

Yeah it does, that however contradicts earlier information, and the way ICS describes them would suggest they can't be turned off. That seems like a very stupid feature.

[Illuminatus Primus]

IIRC, the AOTC ICS might state that repulsorlifts don't even require an energy supply to function...

Yeah it does, that however contradicts earlier information, and the way ICS describes them would suggest they can't be turned off. That seems like a very stupid feature.

How does it imply that?

[Darth Garden Gnome]

How does it imply that?

From the ICS, p. 3:

"Modern galactic civilization manipulates gravity confidently. Gravity-altering devices include repulsorlifts that allow unpowered antigravity floatation,"

How does one turn off something that doesn't use power? They do, however, as we've seen ships like the Millenium Falcon land and take off numerous times, each time it would've had to have deactivated its repulsors lest it be stuck hanging above the ground. There are probably EU examples too.

But we can't get any real idea what makes repulsors tick (post-ICS) because Saxton would have them powered by technobabble, a stupid decision, IMHO:

"The gratioactive constiuents of these devices are subnuclear knots of space-time made in enormous, unmanned power refineries encompassing black holes." - P. 3

[Illuminatus Primus]

How does it imply that?

From the ICS, p. 3:

"Modern galactic civilization manipulates gravity confidently. Gravity-altering devices include repulsorlifts that allow unpowered antigravity floatation,"

"The gratioactive constiuents of these devices are subnuclear knots of space-time made in enormous, unmanned power refineries encompassing black holes." - P. 3

That isn't technobabble: the words actually do mean what he says, regardless of whether it'd work, in which case it had to be magic with a cool name.

Just because it is unpowered to do doesn't mean it isn't adjusted by power. Somehow they adjust the altitude.

Think of it this way: the repulsorlift is like a bank, and you fill it to a certain energy level where it will repulse gravity a given amount, and thus be unpowered at that altitude until adjusted. When turned off, the power is totally syphoned off, and it becomes inactive or its effects become negligible.