Quantum Torpedoes

The quantum torpedo is the first Starfleet follow-on weapon to replace the standard Photon Torpedo first developed in 2268. During upgrade testing of the Mark-IX warhead, it was determined that the theoretical maximum explosive yield of 25 isotons had finally been reached for a matter / antimatter reaction. Existing and future threat force conflicts drove the development of a new defensive standoff weapon that could be deployed on specially equipped starships, starbases, and planetary-surface fortifications. Advances in rapid energy extraction from the space-time domain known as the zero-point vacuum eventually led the Starfleet R&D facility on Groombridge 273-2A to test a prototype continuum-twist device with a calculated potential of 52.3 isotons.

The testing of the prototype zero-point warhead occurred on Groombridge 273-2A, an uninhabited gas-giant moon, in 2355, following six years of theoretical research and experimental hardware development. Various types of EM emitters were successful at producing energy burst, and one was chosen for a detonation test 285 kilometers beneath the surface. Security measures had already been heightened for the entire program when tensions spiked dramatically one hour before the test. One researcher produced a computer simulation that indicated a possible rapid and total annihilation of the moon at the moment of detonation. Unfortunately, one calculation variable dealing with hypothetical runaway vacuum, pinching had not been deleted, and another last-minute simulation predicted a detonation confined to a nine-hundred-meter diameter sphere. The test was successful, the Groombridge site was abandoned and restored to its original state, and Starfleet defensive weapon facilities continued with fabrication.

Torpedo Configuration

The quantum torpedo consists of a pressure-molded shell of densified tritanium and duranium foam, trapezoidal in cross section and tapered at the forward end for atmospheric applications. A 7-millimeter layer of plasma-bonded terminium ceramic forms an ablative armor skin for the foam hull, over which is bonded a 0.12-millimeter coating of silicon-copper-yttrium rigid polymer as an antiradiation coating. Beyond the necessary cuts and welds for propulsion and warhead installation, minimal penetrations are made by phaser cutters, so that the hull may be rendered as near to EM-silent as is technologically possible.

The heart of the current system is the zero-point field reaction chamber, a teardrop-shaped enclosure fabricated from a single crystal of directionally strengthened rodinium-ditellenite. The chamber measures 0.76 meters in diameter by 1.38 meters in length and 2.3 centimeters in average thickness. The assembly is penetrated by a single opening in the tapered end, cut by a nanometer phaser in an inert atmosphere of argon and neon. Two jacketing layers, one of synthetic neutronium and another of dilithium, control the upper and lower extremes of the zero-point initiator consisting of an EM rectifier, waveguide bundle, subspace field amplifier, and continuum distortion emitter. The emitter creates the actual pinch field from a conical spike 10^-16 meters across at the tip.

The zero-point initiator is powered by the detonation of an upgraded photon torpedo warhead with a yield of 21.8 isotons, achieved through increased matter / antimatter surface area contact and introduction of fluoronetic vapor. The matter / antimatter reaction occurs at four times the rate of a standard warhead. The detonation energy is channeled through the initiator within 10^-7 seconds and energizes the emitter, which imparts a tension force upon the vacuum domain. As the vacuum membrane expands, over a period of 10^-4 seconds, an energy potential equivalent to at least fifty isotons is created. This energy is held by the chamber for 10^-8 seconds and is the released by the controlled failure of the chamber wall.

Flight System and Operations

Propulsion for the quantum torpedo is handled by four microfusion thrusters working in concert with standard warp field sustainer coils. Propellant supply valves, cross-feeds to the photon detonator, and matter / antimatter tankage are housed in the aft compartment. Guidance, navigation, and fusion of the torpedo is controlled by the onboard computer and sensor array. The main processor for the computer is a bio-neural gel cylinder surrounded by a low-level inboard warp field for FTL computations and a low-level outboard thoron web block threat force countermeasure radiation.

Launch and maneuvering at impulse velocities up to 0.993c may be accomplished with onboard matter / antimatter reactant consumption of no more than 23 percent; launch at warp will decrease reactant use to 15 percent due to the launcher hand-off warp field.