Editing Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine

{{Status|Canon}}

{{Quote|They have opened a path to the stars for all of us.|Dedication to Tobias Fleming Shaw, ScD, QeD, FRS (January 30, 2220–November 10, 2317), and Wallace Fujikawa ScD, QEnD (April 20, 2215–February 18, 2318)<ref name="Orbital">'''[[Halo 3]]''', multiplayer level ''[[Orbital (level)|Orbital]]''</ref>}}

The '''Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine''' ('''SFTE'''), '''Shaw-Fujikawa drive''' and '''FTL drive''', is a type of [[slipspace drive]] created by [[human]]s. It is a spacecraft propulsion system that is capable of making transitions to and from [[slipstream space]], and by extension allowing faster-than-light interstellar travel.  

[[File:Shaw-Fujikawa Noble Prize.jpg|thumb|250px|Wallace Fujikawa and Tobias Fleming Shaw with their Nobel Prize for the discovery of Slipspace travel.]]

The engine was developed in secret by a group of engineers and theoretical physicists led by [[Tobias Fleming Shaw]] and [[Wallace Fujikawa]] and once complete, was unveiled in April [[2291]].{{Ref/Reuse|Orbital}}<ref>'''Halo Encyclopedia''', ''page 43'' (2011)</ref> From that point onward, the drive became one of the most important technological innovations of humanity.<ref name="Contact">'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''page 24''</ref> The drive is not without limitations, however, although these may be partially because of slipstream physics rather than engineering imperfections.

By [[2552]], a vast majority of large human spacecraft of sufficient size were equipped with a slipspace engine, including most, if not all of the [[UNSC Navy]]'s warships. Throughout much of humanity's colonial era and the [[Human-Covenant War]], the technology was still limited and jumps typically took from several weeks to months, with longer jumps taking over half a year.{{Ref/Reuse|Contact}} By the end of the war, human advances in science and engineering, as well as captured Forerunner technology allowed for the construction of slipspace drives almost on par with those of the Covenant.<ref>'''Halo: Glasslands''', ''page 68''</ref> The {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} was capable of making slipspace transitions within an accuracy of one kilometer, and within one second of expected arrival time.<ref>'''Halo: The Thursday War''', ''page 247''</ref>

==Design details==

The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine functions by creating ruptures, referred to in some sources as wormholes, between normal space and an alternate plane known as slipspace (also known as slipstream space and Shaw-Fujikawa space).<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''page 141''</ref> The engine creates ruptures by using high-power cyclic particle accelerators to generate microscopic black holes. Because of their low mass, [[Hawking radiation]] gives them a lifetime of around a nanosecond (or potentially a little longer than a whole second)<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,483477,00.html?=done '''FoxNews''': ''Scientists Not So Sure 'Doomsday Machine' Won't Destroy World'']</ref> before they evaporate into useless thermal energy. In that nanosecond, the engine manipulates them into forming a coherent rupture between normal space and the slipstream.<ref name="Ghost">'''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''', ''page 53''</ref> A major component of the drive is a set of "slipspace capacitors" which have to be charged before a jump, presumably to accumulate enough power to run its particle accelerator.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 192'' (2003 edition)</ref><ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''pages 295, 376''</ref> This process can take hours or days to complete{{Ref/Book|Id=warfleet14|HWF|Page=14}} or can take 18 minutes or less for a military warship{{Ref/Novel|Id=GoO|GoO|Chapter=32}}{{Ref/Note|The [[UNSC Dusk]] had 15 minutes of stealth after leaving slipspace and used that time to setup an ambush as well as charge their slipspace capacitors. It took 9 minutes, or 6 minutes of stealth remaining, to charge the capacitors to 50%, when the captain ordered that engine power be rerouted to charge the capacitors faster. This means that with standard stealth maneuvering, the Dusk would have recharged their slipspace capacitors in 18 minutes, or 12 minutes if they reroute extra power to charge.}} and uses a ship's fusion or antimatter reactors.

The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine generates a quantum field, which prevents the ship and its occupants from being directly exposed to the eleven-dimensional space-time of slipspace, instead translating the ship's presence to the foreign physics of the Slipstream and "squeezing" it through the higher dimensions.<ref name="quantumfield">'''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]''', ''December 25, 2534''</ref> Maintaining the quantum field requires an enormous amount of constant calculations, with larger vessels requiring significantly more such calculations than smaller ones. For example,  

the slipspace translations for a {{class|Phoenix|colony ship}} require 4.3 quadrillion calculations of the quantum field per second.<ref>'''Halo Wars: Genesis'''</ref>

A human slipspace drive does not actually "accelerate" a spacecraft through slipstream space; this is performed by the ship's conventional [[Fusion drive|reaction thrusters]]. Thus, ships with more powerful conventional engines are also faster within the slipstream.<ref>'''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]''', ''page 23''</ref> When active, a Shaw-Fujikawa engine emits alpha (helium nuclei) and beta particles (fast electrons).<ref name="Ghosts">'''Halo: Ghost of Onyx''', ''pages 145-146''</ref> The coordination and plotting of slipspace jumps, referred to as [[astrogation]], requires an enormous amount of calculations which require a [[navigation computer]] or an [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] to successfully conduct.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 96''</ref> However, the basic jump parameters can be calculated by a human.<ref>'''Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe''', ''"The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole"'', ''page 426''</ref>

The elements [[Wikipedia:Selenium|Selenium]] and [[Wikipedia:Technetium|Technetium]] are used to manufacture Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines.<ref>'''Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe''', ''"The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole"'', ''page 436''</ref>

Human slipspace drives are considered black boxes which are very difficult to repair or maintain after they are activated for the first time. [[Kurt-051]] considered slipspace drives dangerous, noting the aforementioned radiation and that spacetime was said to distort around an active device.{{Ref/Reuse|Ghost}} [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Halsey]] also observed that in the past, several technicians had simply vanished while manually adjusting a drive. However, such adjustments were still often necessary by the late 25th century, as the superconducting magnets that aligned the drive's acceleration coils tended to drift out of phase and the electronic systems designed to control them often malfunctioned in proximity of the drive core due to exposure the warped laws of physics around the device.<ref name="goo145">'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 145-146''</ref>

 

A ruptured slipspace drive can create slipspace "splinters" in normal space, eventually consuming the drive and the entire ship which the drive was placed on.<ref>'''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''' - ''The Mona Lisa'', ''page 332''</ref> Mechanical failures like [[Slip Termination, Preventable]], or STP, can also occur with Slipspace drives, usually resulting from poor maintenance.{{Ref/Reuse|Contact}} An improperly mounted Slipspace drive can also result in catastrophic accidents. This was the case with a colony ship en route to the [[Cygnus system]] around [[2550]]: as a result of a maintenance failure, the drive transported half the ship into oblivion, killing 700.<ref name="reach">'''[[Halo: Reach]]''', campaign level ''[[Long Night of Solace (level)|Long Night of Solace]]''</ref>

 

When a similar slipspace rupture was induced by [[Jorge-052]] to destroy the ''[[Long Night of Solace]]'' in the orbit of Reach, it created an EMP effect that disabled all satellites within its range.{{Ref/Reuse|reach}}

 

The term "CODEN" originated as Doctor [[Wallace Fujikawa]]'s cryptic name for the physics package installed at the core of the first Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. Overtime, the term has come to refer to the field generators of any SFTE, with major improvements denoted by a series number.<ref>''Halo: Warfleet'', p. 90</ref> The Series III was installed in {{Class|Phoenix|colony ship}}s,<ref name="Halo: Warfleet, p. 49">''Halo: Warfleet'', p. 49</ref> while the Series IV was common in [[frigate]]s and [[destroyer]]s, including {{Class|Stalwart|light frigate}}s,<ref>''Halo: Warfleet'', p. 37</ref> {{Class|Charon|light frigate}}s,<ref name="bul10">[http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2012/10/10/The-Halo-Bulletin-101012-.aspx '''Waypoint: The Halo Bulletin''': ''10.10.12'']</ref> and {{Class|Diligence|light destroyer}}s.<ref>''Halo: Warfleet'', p. 10</ref> The Series V was installed on the {{Class|Halcyon|light cruiser}} {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} before it was deployed for its [[Operation: RED FLAG|final operation]].<ref name="halo.xbox.com">[http://halo.xbox.com/Content/assets/en-us/ONI/577839090903298928/DDR-A340024-1115-08-27-52.pdf '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Data Drop 5'']</ref> [[Covenant]] slipspace drives were approximately equivalent to CODEN Series VI.<ref>''Halo: Warfleet'', p. 77</ref>

The first in its own class, the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} is equipped with the Mark X Macedon/Z-PROTOTYPE #78720HDS.{{Ref/Reuse|bul10}} This engine is Forerunner in origin and design.<ref>'''Spartan Ops''', ''[[S1/Catherine|S1E3 ''Catherine'']]</ref>

===Saddle box===

[[Saddle box]]es are rare, specialized slipspace drives built only by the UNSC for use in military experiments with slipstream space. They are commonly built to resemble commercial slipspace drives in order to be inconspicuous.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike (2010)''', ''[[Tug o' War]]''</ref>

 

*'''Kawanishi Engineering SED-2450''': Manufactured by Kawanishi Engineering, this Series III CODEN was installed on {{Class|Able|heavy destroyer}}s.{{Ref/Site|Id=CFDigsite|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-digsite-dissection|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Digsite Dissection|D=28|M=07|Y=2023}}

File:FTLDrive.png|The OKB Karman 11E that was used on the ''Spirit of Fire''.

 

*'''Starwerx FTL-290C''': Manufactured by [[Starwerx]], this Series IV CODEN was installed on the {{Class|Stalwart|light frigate}} {{UNSCShip|In Amber Clad}}.<ref>''[[Halo: Warfleet]]'', p. 36-37</ref>

 

*'''Kawanishi Engineering SED-2550X''': Manufactured by [[Kawanishi Engineering]], this Series V CODEN was installed on the {{Class|Halcyon|light cruiser}} {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} before it was deployed for its [[Operation: RED FLAG|final operation]].{{Ref/Reuse|halo.xbox.com}}<ref>''Halo: Warfleet'', p. 25</ref>

 

The UNSC has twice attempted to execute under-powered slipspace transitions. They were both unsuccessful, leading to the conversion of the trial spacecraft into “atomized bits”.<ref name="strike">'''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''', ''page 225''</ref> In [[2547]], [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]] used the slipspace drive of the [[UNSC frigate]] {{UNSCShip|Tripping Light}} to conduct an experiment on building an abstract fractal within slipspace for [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] housing.<ref>'''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]''', ''September 4, 2547''</ref><ref>'''[[Halo: Reach]]''', ''[[Data pads#Data pad 17|Data pad 17]]''</ref>

Although two human ships utilizing the Shaw-Fujikawa engine are suspected of having successfully executed an in-atmosphere slipspace transition, this has not been irrefutably confirmed.<ref>'''Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe''' - ''The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole'', ''page 474''</ref><ref>'''Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe''' - ''The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole'', ''pages 484-485''</ref>

During her journey to [[Onyx]], Dr. Halsey performed a risky manual adjustment on the drive of ''[[Beatrice]]'' through a minute turn of one of the drive's supercooled superconducting magnets, resulting in a 32-percent increase in coil power.{{Ref/Reuse|goo145}} She was also able to recapture the particle accelerator energy in the ship's plasma coils by plotting the exit vector through a saddle point (a point on the surface of the graph of a function where the slopes (derivatives) in orthogonal directions are all zero (a critical point), but which is not a local extremum of the function) in the mathematical function representing the jump trajectory, although there was a risk of coil overload involved.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 152''</ref>

[[File:LNoS ends.jpg|thumb|250px|Right|An uncontrolled slipspace rupture engulfs the ''[[Ardent Prayer]]'', destroying the ''[[Long Night of Solace]]'' along with it.]]

Slipspace drives may also be used as improvised, if highly expensive, weapons of mass destruction. By momentarily generating an uncontrolled slipspace rupture within a kilometers-wide radius, the device forcibly transitions any matter in the affected area into slipspace.{{Ref/Reuse|reach}} Projections of the [[Insurrection]]'s escalation into a major war suggested that with unrestricted access to slipspace-capable craft, any hostile colony would turn them into weapons against [[Unified Earth Government|Earth]].<ref>'''Dr. Halsey's personal journal''', ''December 4, 2510''</ref>

In [[2531]], the {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}} reused the nuclear reactor from its slipspace drive as an improvised bomb, in order to induce a [[supernova]] in the miniature star at the heart of [[Trove]]. Sergeant [[John Forge]] was forced to stay behind and detonate it manually due to damage to it and the improvised bomb worked perfectly, destroying the [[shield world]] after the ''Spirit of Fire'' escaped.<ref>'''[[Halo Wars]]''', campaign level ''[[Reactor (Halo Wars level)|Reactor]]''</ref><ref>'''Halo Wars''', campaign level ''[[Escape (Halo Wars level)|Escape]]''</ref> In the same year, the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] used a partially deconstructed drive to cause [[Kurt-051]]'s [[thruster pack]] to malfunction and send him flying into space so he could be secretly rescued and recruited into the [[SPARTAN-III program]].{{Ref/Reuse|Ghost}}

During the [[Fall of Reach]] in [[2552]], remembering an accident involving an improperly-mounted slipspace drive, Spartan-III [[Catherine-B320]] of [[Noble Team]] devised a plan to use the {{UNSCShip|Savannah}}'s slipspace drive as an improvised "bomb" to destroy the Covenant {{Pattern|Sh'wada|supercarrier}} ''[[Long Night of Solace]]'', in lieu of [[nuclear weapon]]ry, which was unavailable at the time. The bomb was transported by a [[Dropship 77-Troop Carrier|Pelican]] into the hangar bay of the {{Pattern|Ceudar|heavy corvette}} ''[[Ardent Prayer]]'', which was then hijacked and set on a refueling track with the supercarrier. The activation timer for the "bomb" was damaged in a firefight, so [[Jorge-052]] stayed behind to activate it manually, while [[SPARTAN-B312]] was forced out of the ship. When the slipspace drive was activated, a massive slipspace rupture was created, which caused ''Ardent Prayer'', along with a large portion of ''Long Night of Solace'', to be teleported into oblivion. With its entire midsection missing, the remains of ''Long Night of Solace'' crashed onto the surface of the planet [[Reach]].{{Ref/Reuse|reach}}

==Trivia==

*The slipspace technology name Shaw-Fujikawa may have been another aspect of [[List of references to Aliens in the Halo series|the inspiration]] Bungie derived from the sci-fi film ''[[Wikipedia:Alien (franchise)|Aliens]]'', in which a prominent company in that film is a combination of the hyphened western and Asian surnames [[avp:Weyland-Yutani|Weyland-Yutani]]. It is also grammatically similar to the megacorporation [[marvel:Stark-Fujikawa|Stark-Fujikawa]], the latter namesake company of which is notable for running spacetime experiments, from Marvel Comics' 2099 imprint.

*In real-world physics, black holes have been identified as a possible vector for constructing traversable wormholes, specifically through the use of the [[Wikipedia:Kerr metric|Kerr metric]].

 

File:HWG SpiritOfFire SFTE.png|The Shaw-Fujikawa drive room of the ''Spirit of Fire''.

File:HW-SoF-SFTE-Slipspace-Scan.jpg|The {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}} transitioning through slipspace. It should be noted that this depiction of slipspace is artistic license; canonically, slipspace appears as a pitch black void.

File:HW-Reactor-Model.jpg|Untextured and textured 3D models of the ''Spirit of Fire''{{'}}s slipspace drive.

File:HR SlipspaceDriveConcepts.jpg|Concept art of the {{UNSCShip|Savannah}}'s slipspace drive.

File:HaloReach - Uppercut Slipspace Drive.jpg|The ''Savannah''{{'}}s slipspace drive.

File:HReach-SFTE-Stardrive.png|Side profile view of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine core.

File:HR-SlipspaceDrive.jpg|Extracted (ripped) model of SFTE seen in ''Halo: Reach''.

File:Human Slipspace Drive.jpg|The slipspace drive of the {{UNSCShip|Kronstadt}} as shown in ''[[Halo: Warfleet]]''.

*''[[Halo Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''

**''[[Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian]]''

{{Ref/Sources|2}}