Slipspace COM launcher
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
The Slipspace Communications (COM) launcher is an experimental piece of technology invented by the United Nations Space Command that allows faster-than-light communication.[1] It is the only specifically described example of superluminal communications technology used by humans, with the possible exception of the Slipbeacon.[2][3]
Function
After a communications is probe launched by an underground gauss accelerator, a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine creates a Slipspace rift in high orbit so that the COM probe goes through Slipspace like a "bullet" on an ultra-precise trajectory. It rips through normal time-space, travels through Slipspace, and drops back into normal space at its pre-set coordinates. The probe can traverse as far and as fast as any UNSC ship.[4]
Distribution
The wide-spread use of this technology could revolutionize long-distance communication, as it is far faster than conventional radio communication. If each ship were outfitted with such a device, messages could be delivered without requiring a ship to travel through space to manually give the message. Unfortunately, the cost to build a Shaw-Fujikawa drive and an ultra-precise low-mass launcher is comparable that of a fleet of ships, and even a single probe is worth the value of a capital city on one of the Outer Colonies.[4]
As of February 20th 2551, only three Slipspace COM launchers were known to exist: there was one each Earth and one on Reach[4], and a secret one on Onyx. The one on Reach was almost certainly destroyed during the fall of the planet, while the one on Onyx was destroyed by Sentinels it after sent a message to Earth.[1]
According to page 122 of the Halo Graphic Novel, some sort of superluminal communications system was used by Dr. Catherine Halsey to contact Earth while onboard the Template:UNSCship. Halsey may have used the launcher from Reach to send this message. She was willing to risk several lives to keep this data transfer secret.[notes 1][5]
In addition, in her journal, Halsey receives an after-action report of the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV on July 18, 2552, the same day the battle took place.[6] This would be impossible without a near-instantaneous communications system, as a ship could not have possibly traveled from Sigma Octanus system to Reach in a matter of hours; it took over three weeks for Battle Group Leviathan to make the journey.
List of appearances
- Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (First appearance)
- Halo Graphic Novel
- Page 122 (Possible indirect appearance)
Notes
- ^ The transcript seems to show Halsey transmitting commands in real time. Even if this is accomplished using a script, it still takes about 36 minutes for the data to be transmitted from Earth to somewhere near Eridanus Secundus. The log in the Graphic Novel has an opening timestamp of 04:16 on September 12th, 2552; chapter 27 of Halo: First Strike opens at 04:50 on September 12th, at which point the data has apparently been received. The distance is unknown, however, and so the exact speed can not be calculated.
Sources
- ^ a b Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page ??
- ^ Halo: Blood Line' Issue 1
- ^ Halo 2, campaign level The Great Journey
- ^ a b c Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 105
- ^ Halo: First Strike, page 237
- ^ Dr. Halsey's personal journal, July 18, 2552
