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Magnetic Ion-Field plasma manuevering system(Field Flyer engine) Standard shuttles and fighters currently use either MHD-based reaction-control thrusters(basically high-tech rockets) or impulse engines for their manueverings inside of a planetary atmosphere. Unless you use a gravitic-based system, which is prone to disruptions by varying density of a planetary mass, or place RCS thrusters all over the ship, you have poor manueverability; you`re stuck, basically, obeying the laws of aerodynamics. Plus, with RCS systems you are limited by your amount of onboard fuel. My technique involves using the warp field coils onboard the ship to generate a coherent magnetic field outside of the ship; the SIF conductors inside of the hull carry it and prevent the field from extending too far. Once at a certain level the field lines are twisted and adjusted to ionize the air inside of them, producing a glowing nimbus of plasma around the craft, which does not actually touch the hull itself. This plasma cloud is then used to support the craft in a manner similar to a omnidirectional plasma jet engine; it is capable, at a maximum, of attaining Mach 40 inside of an atmosphere. The manueverability of a craft equipped with this system is un-matched;it can stop from Mach 20 to zero within 1 second, dispersing of excess plasma by starburst or by channeling into the ship`s system. There are even two plasma-air reaction boosters(see attached picture) that come with this system; replacing the RCS system, they channel the plasma from the ion field and mix it with air in a ramjet setup to provide a temporary boost of speed, even above the top normal speed of Mach 40; it is only capable of holding this for 5 minutes however. The disadvantages of this system are few, namely being you cannot have a smooth transition between atmosphere and outer space; the ion field drive fails in the middle ionosphere of most planets, the atmosphere past that being too thin to really support the plasma sheath. At that point the field must be shut down and impulse engines engaged.  |
