Slipspace COM launcher: Difference between revisions

After a communications probe is launched by an underground [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|gauss accelerator]], a [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine|Shaw-Fujikawa translight generator]] in high orbit creates a [[Slipstream Space|Slipspace]] rift. The probe enters the rift and travels through Slipspace like a "bullet" on an ultra-precise trajectory,<ref name="goo180">'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 180''</ref> and eventually drops back into normal space at its pre-set coordinates. The probe can traverse as far and as fast as any UNSC ship.<ref name="goo"/>

The wide-spread use of this technology could revolutionize long-distance 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 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]].<ref name="goo"/>

As of [[2552|November 2552]], only three Slipspace COM launchers were known to exist: there was one on [[Earth]] and one on [[Reach]], and a secret one on [[Onyx]].<ref name="goo176"/> The one on Reach was almost certainly destroyed during the [[Fall of Reach|fall of the planet]], while the one on Onyx was destroyed by [[Onyx Sentinel|Sentinels]] after it sent a message to Earth.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx,''' ''page 313''</ref>