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DeVass Warp Probe



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April 19th 2027 - a date that will that will be written in the history books as one of the most significant in human history. One minute a small probe was gently supported in its launch cradle, bathed in the sinister light of Jupiter. The next moment it shimmered and disappeared, beginning its 6-light year journey to Barnards Star. Since the early 2000's, Henri DeVass had been working on Faster-Than-Light travel (FTL) after it was discovered that the 'folding' of space so that the start point meets the destination, allowing travel between the two points, was possible.

After breakthroughs in the fields of nuclear power in the early 2010's, DeVass sought to utilise this new form of power generation in order to create the necessary conditions for a miniature 'black hole' so that a craft may travel great distances in a short space of time.

By 2022, early prototypes were tested some distance from Mars, but had mixed results. One prototype suffered a catastrophic failure, destroying itself, its support cradle and badly damaging the support ship monitoring the test nearby. This forced a design rethink, which resulted in 2025 the completion of the worlds first warp-generator equipped probe. The probe was shipped by Explorer-class freighter to the orbit of Jupiter, far away from the burgening orbiting construction sites nearby.

The experiment was carefully prepared and monitored by the worlds media. At 11 o'clock, on the morning of the 19th of April 2027, Henri DeVass pressed the button that launched the probe on its 6 light-year journey and a new chapter in Mans journey to the stars had begun.

The arrival of the probe was recorded by another craft launched to Barnards Star some 15 years earlier, powered by a nuclear/plasma drive. In January 2029 the signal (sent by a primitive form of Hyperwave communications) of the safe arrival was received back on Earth with an unexpected bonus; it appeared that the Barnards Star system was inhabited - with visitors from the neighbouring star system Alpha Centauri...

Shortly after contact with the Alphans was made in 2036, the probe was recovered and shipped back to Sol, for public display at the museum of spaceflight at the TTA North African shipyards, where it is now permanently on display.



Specification

Civil & Commercial/Terran
Manufacturer - Various contractors to goverment specifications
Classification - Experimental probe
Main Drive - DeVass Warp Generator Mk1a, standard pattern correction thrusters
Personnel - None
Defence - Duralloy armour 5cm thick
In-service date - 2027


About this image:- November 2006, Bryce 5.0, POV-Ray 3.6

All images © S. Attwood / Digital Waterfalls
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