GRAVITY GENERATION

	Since the time of the first orbital research stations in the Sol system, 
the difficulties as well as the benefits presented by microgravity situations 
have been exhaustively documented.
	The crews of the first true human-built interstellar craft of the twenty-
first century coped with acceleration and zero-g coasting mission segments 
through the use of rotating centrifuges, acceptable solutions for the day.
	Humanoid organ systems require gravitational and electromagnetic 
fields to insure proper cellular growth and viability, simulating the natural 
conditions present on most Class M worlds. Low-level field devices 
simulated the planetary electrical and magnetic energy, and the 
descendants of many twenty- to thirty-year flights arrived in a healthy state.
	The general planform of the Galaxy class starship returns to a more 
natural existence in that people are free to move about on planar surfaces 
with a constant gravity holding them to the deck. Aboard the starship, this is 
accomplished through the use of a network of small gravity generators. The 
network is divided into four regions, two within the Saucer Module and two 
within the Battle Section. All four work to maintain the proper sense of 
Òdown,Ó and are also actively tied to the inertial damping field system to 
minimize motion shock during flight. The two Saucer Module gravity 
networks each support 400 generators; those in the Battle Section each 
support 200. Fields overlap slightly between devices, but this is barely 
noticeable.
	The gravity field itself is created by a controlled stream of gravitons, 
much like those produced by the tractor beam. In fact, the basic physics is 
the same. Power from the electro plasma system (EPS) is channeled into a 
hollow chamber of anicium titanide 454, a sealed cylinder measuring 50 cm 
in diameter by 25 cm high. Suspended in the center of the cylinder, in 
pressurized chrylon gas, is a superconducting stator of thoronium arkenide. 
The stator, once set to a rotational rate above 125,540 rpm, generates a 
graviton field with a short lifetime, on the order of a few picoseconds. This 
decay time necessitates the addition of the second layer of generators 
beyond 30 meters distance. The field is gentle enough to allow natural 
walking without a gravity gradient from head to foot, long a problem in brute-
force physical centripetal systems.
	The superconducting stator remains suspended from the time of 
manufacture, and requires only an occasional synchronizing energy pulse 
from the EPS, normally once each sixty minutes. In the event of EPS failure, 
the stator will continue to provide an attraction field for up to 240 minutes, 
though some degradation to about 0.8g will be detected. Any perceived ship 
motions that might disturb the stator gyroscopically are damped by 
sinesoidal ribs on the inner surface of the anicium titanide cylinder, 
effectively absorbing motions with an amplitude of less than or equal to 6 
cm/sec. All higher-amplitude motions are relieved by the shipÕs inertial 
damping field.
	Gravity generators are located throughout the habitable volume of 
the spacecraft. Because of this, inertial potential can vary from one location 
within the ship to another, especially during severe turning maneuvers. In 
order to allow translation of excess inertial potential from one part of the 
ship to another, the gravity generators are connected together by a network 
of small waveguide conduits that allow field bleed for gravitational stability.  
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