Hyporine

Hyporine is a type of specialised exofluid used for sublight propulsion in spacecraft, and is the most popular monopropellant fuel in modern spaceflight, competing primarily against gas-plasma ion drives. It is primarily useful for its high density, and it has allowed for the development of “puddle-jumper” type spacecraft that can endure multiple trips without refuelling. It is produced by irradiating hydrazine fuel with entropic radiation in a cavity-type reactor. The catalyst bed material gradually ablates away during use due to E-rad exposure, and must be itself pre-irradiated with syntropic radiation in order to not be instantly destroyed. Supporters of hyporine fuel praise it for lowering costs across all sectors of spaceflight, while those against it criticise its inherent hazards and restrictive supply chain.

It was theoretically possible to produce hyporine as early as the late-21st Century, but its utility in spaceflight was very low due to humanity lacking the infrastructure for industrial-scale exofluid manufacturing, making it extremely costly. It was also necessary to protect parts of the rocket engine and the crew themselves from E-rad exposure, something that only became possible with the advent of materials such as fractal armour. Hyporine rose to commercial prevalence around 2220, as part of a partnership between Voima Tech Industries, CORE Bridge Systems, and Smike Oilfields.

Hazards

Exposure

The particle jet produced in a hyporine thrust reaction includes a high concentration of entropic radiation, or E-rad. This creates a dangerous backblast risk for objects behind the vehicle, mandating minimum safe areas between in-flight spacecraft and the installation of fractal armour-equipped backblast shields in tight areas where E-rad might pass through walls and expose other parts of the building, such as in space station hangars.

E-rad backscatter (bremsstrahlung) also poses a risk to the crew of the vehicle during flight, as without proper shielding the particle jet might be reflected back towards the crew compartment. For this reason, the integrity of E-rad shielding is a critical flight safety component and any damage grounds the spacecraft.

Storage

The storage of hyporine is less hazardous because it does not emit any E-rad while it is not reacting. However, extreme care must be taken, as ignition that results in an entire container or tank of hyporine detonating creates a massive flash of entropic radiation with similar consequences as a small, localised entropic flashover bomb (EFB). Because in most cases the specific energies emitted from such a detonation are not enough to permanently damage manifolds, the resulting warp is only temporary.

Regulation

Hyporine possession and use is regulated under Section 10 of the Dimensional Security Accords, Hazardous Materials. All possession requires licensure, and all consignments and consumption activities are tracked, logged, and audited by the Industrial Exophysics Regulatory Commission (IERC), an international treaty agency of the Coalition overseen by Raven. Possession and storage of large quantities of hyporine is heavily restricted and sizeable hyporine storage sites are often guarded by Raven’s Counter-Exoterrorism Unit (AS-CET).