Trans Newtonian Elements

Break out the shovel!
Image: NASA

Trans-Newtonian Elements (TN elements) are minerals, whose properties transcend known Newtonian physics. Found within the core of planet, they require significant effort to extract.

Their discovery lead to technologies which were the linchpin of an interstellar civilization, making trade and exploration across vast interstellar distances viable. The mining and use of these elements is a fundamental part of Aurora.

Mineral Types

TN minerals are needed to power the Empires industry and supply the military. There are eleven types of TN minerals and their functions are as follows:

• Duranium. Most common mineral. Due to its abundance, duranium is the basic construction material, and is used for nearly everything e.g. construction of factories, mines and ship structures.
• Sorium. Refined into Fuel, which is consumed by the engines to propel ships and missiles. Also used for construction of jump drives and jump gates. Sorium Harvester modules can extract Sorium from gas giants.
• Neutronium. Very dense material used for shipyards, advanced armors and kinetic weapons such as railguns or orbital bombardment systems.
• Corbomite. Used for advanced shields, stealth systems and electronic warfare systems.
• Tritanium. The primary material used in many missile technologies and in the construction of ordnance factories.
• Boronide. The primary material used in the construction of power systems and capacitors and also for the creation of Terraforming facilities.
• Uridium. Used in sensors and fire control systems.
• Corundium. The primary material used in almost all energy weapons. Frequently a scarcity of this develops early on leading to the aptly named "Corundium Crunch."
• Mercassium. Used for Research Facilities, life support systems and tractor beams.
• Vendarite. Used in the construction of fighters, fighter factories and fighter bases.
• Gallicite. Used in the construction of engines, including missile and fighter engines.

Background

This is some technobabble about Trans-Newtonian Elements.

In 2025, a Commonwealth science team examining the possibilities of several outlandish propulsion systems made a startling discovery; the existence of another universe, close to our own, but with radically different physical laws, the most significant difference being that space-time in the other universe had the properties of a fluid rather than a vacuum

Although they could not find a way to move from our own reality into the nearby universe, the theoretical work of the scientists resulted in the discovery of previously unknown elements with strange compositions that seemed to be affected by the presence of this universe. Unfortunately, almost all of the elements were only found within the molten core of the planet and would require significant effort to access. Given the significance of the discovery, sufficient funds were quickly made available and core mining techniques developed. Once in the possession of sufficient quantities of the minerals, the scientists discovered the minerals somehow intruded into the space-time of the alternate dimension and that spacecraft built from these elements would be affected by some of the physical laws of that universe. They theorized that this would allow spacecraft to turn in space like ships in water but it would also quickly slow them to a stop if their engines ceased operating. A secondary effect was that the mass of such a ship would be dramatically reduced allowing much higher speeds from conventional power systems. Finally, it was discovered that sensors and communication systems constructed from some of the new elements could send energy signals through the other universe at a speed much greater than light. Within a star system, communication and sensors would effectively be real-time.

This breakthrough meant that long range system exploration was finally a reality and the Commonwealth began diverting more and more funds to building a space-based capability. Such a discovery could not remain secret for long though. Within a year, the other nations of the world learned of the newly discovered universe and the existence of the minerals, now known as Trans-Newtonian Elements, and began building their own shipyards and factories to support the exploration and exploitation of nearby space.

Two years later, using new gravitational sensors developed from Trans-Newtonian Elements, the team discovered a number of gravitational fluctuations throughout our own space-time with no obvious cause. They theorized that these fluctuations might be caused by the existence of invisible wormholes forming between the gravitational wells of stars and that study of the gravitational fluctuations in a star system would provide the locations of these wormholes. Experimentation with the creation of tiny wormholes provided exactly the readings expected and the scientists informed the Commonwealth government that travel between star systems might be possible if the wormholes could be located and a way found to open them. Work began immediately on ship-based sensors to detect the wormholes and an engine capable of opening a wormhole and taking a ship through it.