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Ok, prolly gone over before, but...

Hypermatter!

What is it? How is it made? Harvested? Gathered?

Do we know how it it transported? Stored? Refined?

Are there ANY canon examples of talking about the stuff? How it reacts, or why fighters seem to able to have a liquid version of it?

These questions I leave to YOU!

It's possibly always liquid. Liquid fuel is shown in the RotS deleted scenes and the novel, as well as in at least one game (Jedi Knight).

NecronLord wrote:It's possibly always liquid. Liquid fuel is shown in the RotS deleted scenes and the novel, as well as in at least one game (Jedi Knight).

The KOTOR fuel scene also suggests liquid, but I wouldn't call that hypermatter. They mined it off asteroids after all.

The 'fuel' itself may be a catalyst for the hypermatter, or the material that the hypermatter is created from?

Whatever it is hypermatter as described ain't that liquid fuel. The liquid simply wasn't dense enough. In fact, I'd say it had the density of ordinary water

I wasn't under the impression fighters used hypermatter fuel.

the liquid: reaction mass? certainly not hypermatter.

Stark wrote:I wasn't under the impression fighters used hypermatter fuel.

Me too, I always thought it was like uranium is for nuclear reactors.
Perhaps it is the blue stuff in hyper space?

Stark wrote:I wasn't under the impression fighters used hypermatter fuel.

I don't believe the fighters ever did given that most accounts of the substance is supposedly immensely dense, and unless every fighter account can maintain some nilly willy with gravity...somewhat doubting it.

The Jazz Intern wrote: Perhaps it is the blue stuff in hyper space?

That's just seeing space when moving faster than light.

I believe most fightercraft just use deuterium fusion, and IIRC some larger reactors use hypermatter fusion, whatever that means. Hypermatter annhialation is what you get for the big ships, Star Frigate on up.

Perhaps hypermatter is some sort of tachyonic matter? Hence the prefix hyper-.

Ghost Rider wrote:

Stark wrote:I wasn't under the impression fighters used hypermatter fuel.

I don't believe the fighters ever did given that most accounts of the substance is supposedly immensely dense, and unless every fighter account can maintain some nilly willy with gravity...somewhat doubting it.

I think the confusion sets in between the hyper-drives and the larger ships hypermatter reactors. Obviously, to have hyperdrive, the ship must have a bit of hypermatter to change or convert the complex mass (as I understand it).

But if they don't have the hypermatter anilihation reactor, they don't need the vast quantities that larger ships with that engine do. A SD has both the hyperdrive and the hypermatter reactor, so it'll need the vast quantities and the heavy ass fuel silos that go with it, multiplying it's mass a shitton.

But, a fighter just need however much is required for the hyperdrive (motivator?). How much that is, I don't think has ever been adressed, but their regular 'drive' runs off of some other source; 'Power converters' or fusion, ect.... hence the liquid fuel.

Hence the 'micro fighters' in the prequels that don't have any hyperdrive, can be extremely small, while OT fighters with hyperdrives tend to be larger and have more volume and presumable mass. It's possible that they have larger reactors than the micro fighters too; if the fighter has to keep some sense of repulsars going while on a planet to compensate for the mass of what little hypermatter it does have.

An atmosphereic Star-ship would need repulsars on all the time while 'docked' to compensate for the weight/mass of the fuel hypermatter or it would probably snap the keel of the ship.

Has it been determined whether the hyper-dense fuel would nescessarily be hypermatter? It could be converted to tachyonic matter prior to being annhialated. Also, the fuel as it is when it reaches the reactor needn't be anything like as dense as it is when stored.

Alan Bolte wrote:I believe most fightercraft just use deuterium fusion, and IIRC some larger reactors use hypermatter fusion, whatever that means. Hypermatter annhialation is what you get for the big ships, Star Frigate on up.

Star Wars fusion has been known to use heavy metals for fuel, I believe, among other things.

Ford Prefect wrote:

Alan Bolte wrote:I believe most fightercraft just use deuterium fusion, and IIRC some larger reactors use hypermatter fusion, whatever that means. Hypermatter annhialation is what you get for the big ships, Star Frigate on up.

Star Wars fusion has been known to use heavy metals for fuel, I believe, among other things.

How do they manage to pull that off? Heavy elements take up more energy fusing than they give off, IIRC.

Wouldn't the use of heavy metals cause energy to be "absorbed" and not released?

Remember in ANH when Solo has the Falcon hooked up to some hoses in the docking bay. What's he pumping there?

FSTargetDrone wrote:Remember in ANH when Solo has the Falcon hooked up to some hoses in the docking bay. What's he pumping there?

Who knows? Fuel, air, water. Perhaps it was pumping waste out of the Falcon instead of pumping something in. Couldn't even hazard a guess.

Knife wrote:

FSTargetDrone wrote:Remember in ANH when Solo has the Falcon hooked up to some hoses in the docking bay. What's he pumping there?

Who knows? Fuel, air, water. Perhaps it was pumping waste out of the Falcon instead of pumping something in. Couldn't even hazard a guess.

The OT ICS states that the Falcon uses "highly unstable dangerous liquid metal fuel."

Surlethe wrote:How do they manage to pull that off? Heavy elements take up more energy fusing than they give off, IIRC.

This proves that the 'fusion' taking place in SW reactors in not nuclear fusion.

Knife wrote:

FSTargetDrone wrote:Remember in ANH when Solo has the Falcon hooked up to some hoses in the docking bay. What's he pumping there?

Who knows? Fuel, air, water. Perhaps it was pumping waste out of the Falcon instead of pumping something in. Couldn't even hazard a guess.

Very possible... hadn't considered he was taking something out!

Yeah, I kind of already answered that.

Besides, considering he's at a docking bay preping for take off, it would make more sense that he's pumping in fuel than pumping something out.

Of course, I really don't see somebody like Han having any trouble just dumping waste in deep space, right before or after he jumps.

Heck, I don't see him having much trouble dumping over some town, especially if he didn't like the locals, or didn't think he was coming back.

Would the liquid metals be fuel for the reactor, or would they be propellant? The latter makes more sense to me.