GRAVIMETRIC ENGINE

One of the key problems for spaceship construction, perhaps the key problem, is that of propulsion. The simple axiom, "Every action requires an equal, but opposite, reaction" has limited spaceship designers to traditional (but highly efficient) variations of rockets. While the efficiency might vary from species to species throughout known space, for the most part and with only a few rare exceptions, rockets in some form are the only means of propulsion available.

However, in the universe of Babylon 5 there are some exceptions to this rule: the Vorlons, the Shadows, the Minbari, Abbai and to a lesser extent the Centauri, have all found a way to bypass the exclusive use of rocket based propulsion. Their ships accelerate and maneuver to a far greater degree than Earthforce ships and the key to this superior performance is their ability to manipulate, on a macro as opposed to quantum level, the special characteristics of the Zero Point Field (ZPF, also known as a Lorentz Field).

ZPF have been explained as being a three dimensional representation of the dimensional objects known as superstrings, believed to be the key building blocks of both matter and energy in our universe. Zero Point Energy is essentially a 'leakage', on the quantum scale, of energy in process of being translated into this reality. Normally, this leakage involves the creation and dissipation of energy such that the result is an almost zero increase of energy. However, it is possible to use the potential of the ZPF as a power source of enormous implications. As Cal Tech physicist Richard Feynman once noted, the energy inherent in the space defined by a single coffee cup- anywhere in the universe- is enough to boil all of the oceans on planet Earth.

There are other implications of the ZPF fields and superstrings, in addition to that of an enormous power source. It has been discovered that inertia - the propensity of an object when at rest to stay at rest, and when in motion to in motion - is a manifestation of that objects electromagnetic interaction with the ZPF. Thus gravity and a lowering of inertia are both capable of being manipulated through the use of controlled electric interaction with the ZPF produced by superstrings.

By manipulating and "bending" these superstrings, advanced ships are able to create distortions in space/time that can be used to push and pull a ship in any given direction. It is via the manipulation of superstrings that allow ships constructed by the Minbari and, to a lesser extent the Centauri, to accelerate and outmaneuver those vessels used by the Drazi, Narn and the Earth Alliance. An important byproduct of this means of propulsion is that the effect of inertia is also negated, allowing ships to accelerate, stop and maneuver at velocities that would crush a person using conventional ion propulsion.